InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Watch as I soar!"

Dick Grayson has too many siblings (onatightrope) wrote in wariscoming,
@ 2010-08-16 11:49:00

Entry tags:

dick grayson/nightwing, xander harris

Who: Dick and Xander
What: bonding?
When: this morning.
Where: complex kitchen.
Warnings: TBA.

Dick was still furious with Babs. She should have known better then to talk back at that new guy like she had. He knew before she was capable of taking care of herself, but now? Now Dick felt like he had to play babysitter. He felt like if he didn't watch her closely she would pull another stupid stunt and end up dead like she had before. Only this time there wouldn't be anyone around to bring her back to life. That memory haunted him. He wasn't even able to say at the time that he'd been worried thanks to his own demonic possession. But the post affect was an entirely different story. Babs had died. She died without thinking, and then tried to play it off as no big deal. It was a big deal. But the way she spoke to the Trickster made it seem like she didn't care one way or another what happened, and that made Dick furious.

Most of the time he was able to contain his anger, but when it came to her death it was another thing entirely. He'd loved her once. Was ready to marry her until she decided he needed to go find 'it' before she would commit to a life long relationship with the former boy wonder. Whatever it was. Dick still wasn't sure what she meant by that when Babs turned down his proposal. He probably didn't have the right to be as angry as he was with her. She wasn't a little kid anymore, but these days Dick wasn't so sure if she had grown up from playing dress up yet. He took his job seriously as Nightwing. Sure he took risks. But most of them were planned out to a Tee the best he could to his ability.

He'd nearly died three times in his past. He wasn't about to let it happen again if he could help it and he wished Babs would take the same precautions. She had no idea how it really effected him to find out from Xander that she'd died. He didn't even have the option of learning it from her. Finding out from someone else had only made the wound a little bit larger.

Physically since his demon experience, Dick was healing. His bruises and wounds were nearly gone. But the mental was a little different. Mostly Dick stuck to himself recently, but he found now that he didn't have much option. He was running out of food, and made the decision that he really had no choice but to go down to the kitchen if he wanted to eat that morning. It was only about ten A.M. when Dick started sifting through the refrigerator. He couldn't figure out what he was in the mood for until he spotted it, cold pizza wrapped in tin foil and his lips curved upwards for a minute as he grabbed it and turned to sit down at the table with it in his hand. Unwrapping the tin foil he winced a little. "Veggie..ugh." Not his favorite, but it would do.

(Post a new comment)

xander_shaped
2010-08-17 11:38 pm UTC (link)

Ah, the complex kitchen. He and it had so many wonderful memories of mornings, afternoons, and evenings spent together. Between the peanut butter and jelly, the ice cream sandwiches, and the macaroni and cheese souffles, he and the kitchen were tight. Traditionally, Xander spent more time in the complex kitchen than his own. Mostly because it came equipped with a microwave, had more food than his own apartment, and was easier to access on his way in and out of the building. Tiredly, Xander trudged into the downstairs kitchen. He was already dressed up for work - plaid shirt, jeans, work boots, and a hard hat tucked under his arm all ready to go - but he had a little time to kill with his usual morning routine before he left. A cup of coffee, maybe a bowl of cereal, and a glimpse at the morning paper if someone happened to leave a copy on the kitchen table. Someone usually did too; it was always right there, sitting at the center of the table usually with little things like produce ads and vigilante articles open, looking very much like the things that the person in charge of the newspaper had been reading before their departure. Whoever it was happened to be a definite early bird, of which Xander was thankful for. He didn't have to bother asking for the newspaper when he needed it. Mostly.

Yet when Xander got into the kitchen, it wasn't the newspaper that he found waiting for him at the table. It was Dick. He walked over to one of the empty spots and sat his hard hat down, then turned to the fridge somewhat tiredly. The work day was going to be long and things were going to be all the more worse when he got back and had to deal with other things. Seeing Dick reminded him of those other things too. Babs. Hellhounds. A whole lotta dangerous, time consuming work that would possibly end up in them all being eaten alive. Oh joy of joys. Xander pulled out a carton of milk from the refrigerator and glanced over at Dick curiously.

"Pizza, huh? Not a bad breakfast. Plenty of nutrition." Xander set the carton onto the table and went in search of a box of cereal. He could remember plenty of times where he himself had dished out for strange meals in the morning. Ice cream on pancakes, pizza with a side of scrambled eggs...what? He was a grown man! He could eat whatever he wanted and no one could tell him different.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

onatightrope
2010-08-18 01:06 am UTC (link)

When Xander first came in, Dick just nodded a typical greeting. If he wanted to talk he would, and Dick would respect that. Not to mention it was damn early and he hadn't exactly slept yet. He was just in from late night patrol, it'd gone decently well. He'd made a police connection as Nightwing-though he wasn't certain he could fully count on the cooperation of local law enforcement yet, he had at least made an effort. The officer seemed mostly trustworthy. So he left it at a meet and greet and was then on his way.

Three chop shops down, two drug deals gone sour, and one bank robber. It was almost like Christmas for him. And he didn't once have to think about Babs, or that wacky truth spell going around, he just focused on fighting crime. It wasn't for everyone, but it worked for him. Dick was running on too much adrenaline to be tired as Xander looked, it was often hard to sleep after working on cases. Maybe after the food it would kick in, but for the time being, Dick was fine even without any sleep after all that physical activity.

"Long night, it'll hit the spot." Looking over at the helmet Xander put down he glanced back at him after taking a bite of the pizza and chasing it down with a soda. "Early morning?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

xander_shaped
2010-08-18 05:58 am UTC (link)

"Long night? Are you just now getting in?" Of course he was just now getting in. Why was Xander even asking that question? He had read through plenty of Batman comics to know that Batman rarely got to bed until around sunrise, if even that. Crime worked best at night and so did Batman. Xander poured himself a bowl of cereal and plopped down at the table, sitting himself just opposite of Dick. "As awesome as the whole badass superhero gig is, I don't think I could cut it the way you hardcore types do. Too many hours out kicking ass, not enough time tucked away nice and cozy in bed. Which - FYI? Is my favorite place in the world. Well, okay, the Playboy mansion would be my favorite place in the world. But I've not gotten the chance to go before and, heh, most people would frown upon me admitting that in public."

Xander took a bite out of his cereal and stretched tiredly. "Yep, we're taking on one of those abandoned buildings downtown. There's gonna be a wrecking ball out there and everything. Then we've got to clean the mess up and start re-building. It's all kinds of exciting. Except for the part where, y'know, it's going to be lots of work and I'm probably going to be an exhausted mess when I get home. I hate having to work my way up the ladder. I was practically in charge of the entire sites we worked on back home, you know. Now I've gotta walk around like the rest of these lower ranked grunts and it sucks."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

onatightrope
2010-08-18 06:14 am UTC (link)

Dick nodded. "Yeah, I almost can't even remember what a full night sleep is like." He stated with a half hearted shrug and winced a little thanks to a stiff muscle. Sometimes it bothered him, other times it was just part of the routine. Tonight unfortunately was not the later. He wished he could be average Joe bedtime at eleven. "Not going to lie, It's got its moments of pure fun. But it takes a tole. And I think I dislocated my shoulder." He admitted glance up at the other man as he took another bite out of his pizza, making a face at the zucchini he bit into and flicked it off and away with a finger onto his plate. He was not a fan of them. "Ha." Xander's comment about the mansion caused his face to light up in amusement. "That brings back memories. "He mused aloud with a smirk. "Two words. Undercover Bunny." with each word he held up a finger.

"I did a little construction once upon a time." It was only an undercover gig again, but he knew what it was like having to be pretty much a mindless minion of the foreman. "Never did get to stick around long enough to watch the crane." Dick frowned a little and peered at Xander's cereal, contemplating a mix of the two. But his stomach probably wouldn't appreciate it as much as his mind did with the current mental image. "Quite a few of them down there."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

xander_shaped
2010-08-18 06:26 am UTC (link)

Dislocated shoulder. Ouch. He might not have been a vigilante type, but Xander had certainly endured his fair share of injuries. That was what happened when a normal guy like himself went running around on patrols and faced big bads alongside the Slayer. Of course, on the flip side, fighting with Buffy had also taught him a lot. Not only stuff about actually being able to fight, but real life, personal stuff as well. Monsters might have been a real pain in the ass, but those memories and experiences were worth having. Even if they meant he'd have to walk away from them with some serious ouchies. "Wait, wait, wait. Put it in reverse, back up, and park. What is this about Undercover Bunnies? Please. By all means. Feel free to share that wonderful little experience with your good pal Xander." Not that they were actually good pals, but c'mon. How could anyone bring up something like Undercover Bunny and expect for a guy like Xander Harris not to want all the details? That was like asking a dog not to chase after a cat. It was downright inhumane.

"The crane is probably the best part of the whole job. You get to sit back, relax, and watch as the building goes bye-bye." Personally, Xander chose to pretend that the crane was Godzilla attacking the building, ripping it apart little by little. Not that he would ever actually admit that to anyone, but hey. Xander still enjoyed it. "You have no idea. There's so much crap downtown that needs to be taken care of. You've got abandoned buildings, properties that don't get taken care of, the streets are a mess..." Xander wiped a hand across his brow. "It's a lot of work, even for the amount of guys we have. And we have a lot of guys. Seems like the work we gotta do will always be more than the people we've got to do it. Plus, the nicer parts of the city pay better and happen to be a whole lot more demanding. We get halfway through a job, head up to finish the better paying one, then come back to that same job weeks later and find that some smartasses decided to graffiti up and demolish the work we started on. It's a pain."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

onatightrope
2010-08-18 06:53 am UTC (link)

His grin only got a little wider as Xander took the bait and he started to pull at the crust of his pizza- in his opinion, the best part. Nibbling at a little, he laughed. Even with a dislocated shoulder and lack of sleep Dick was still in decent spirits at least. "Sort of. We were staking out a strip club and the only way we could get close enough to the big bad inside was to send someone in. Best bet was Bunny garb and an inside." He was definitely in the mood for story time before crashing at least. " Any guesses at who was the lucky participant?" He eyed Xander. An amused mirth in his eyes. Those were the days, when things were less complicated between him and Babs.

"I was actually kinda disappointed, but Bruce pulled me out. So I really couldn't say anything edgewise back when I was a kid." He knew Xander knew all about him and his world, so he didn't try to hide the fact that he was Nightwing. Or that it wasn't known with him. So far he'd seen a little of the kind of man that Xander was, and he didn't seem the type to betray his trust. Of course it was all surface guessing, but since he was Babs friend he was going to give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being. " Yeah and those buildings become squats. So it's good work." He stated, listening to Xander's side of things. He was a hard worker, that much was obvious and knew what he was talking about. "I could never do that nine to five ontop of this. It'd be too much." His body already took alot of damage. Anymore would probably break him.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

xander_shaped
2010-08-20 07:26 pm UTC (link)

Staking out a strip club. See, that was the kind of work that Xander could see himself being incredibly useful for. He could be the guy to distract the strippers! They'd find a room, get all sexy, and the others could do whatever it was that the mission was all about before collecting Xander upon their exit. Or, better yet, they could leave Xander there. Xander certainly wouldn't have minded living in a strip club. That was pretty much the best potential life opportunity he could think of. Outside of the Playboy Mansion, that was. Nothing seemed more appealing than that. "I'm gonna sit over here and hope that the lucky one wasn't you," Xander said, looking slightly amused. He leaned back in his chair, caught the amused glint in Dick's eye, and challenged him with a raise of his brows. "You don't mean...?" No. He couldn't mean it. But the way he was flashing Xander that amused look spoke more loudly than words possibly could have. Clapping his hands together, Xander leaned forward and peered across at Dick in pure delight. "Babs? Babs was your Undercover Bunny?!" Ooh, the possibilities there were endless.

"If it makes you feel any better? I could never work nine to five on top of what you're doing either. It's a tough gig, being a hero." Xander used to go out and patrol with Buffy all the time. Spending the entire night out in a graveyard, mixed with a couple hours at the Bronze, topped off by a day of school? Nope. No way. That was probably why Xander had spent most of his time snoozing in the back of the classroom than actually paying attention. Well, that and the fact that school in itself was incredibly boring. Education and all that had never really been Xander's strongsuit. He was smart in his own ways, but book smart? Nah. That was Willow.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

onatightrope
2010-08-20 08:36 pm UTC (link)

He wouldn't go into another one where he was the lucky/unlucky crossdresser. This was all about Babs. Dick smirked. Unfortunately for their kind of stake outs most of the time going inside didn't happen. It was safer from the outside, but on rare occasions there were fun to be had inside. "Not on that particular adventure." he admitted and managed to keep a very straight face until Xander caught on and Dick barely contained his laughter. "I do." He stated with a raise of a suggestive brow and tha was it, he couldn't hide the laughter any longer. "She's gonna kill me for telling you this story."

"It's hard enough going to work a few hours at the gym every day. I only ever get about six hours of sleep a night, if I'm lucky." Dick shrugged, sometimes it was less than that. He was used to it, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy the lack of full night sleep. And he was human so it caught up with him on occasion. "I'm just glad I'm done with school now so I don't have to worry about staying awake during the day at least."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

xander_shaped
2010-08-20 09:22 pm UTC (link)

Xander brought a hand up to his mouth, twisted his head to the side, and broke out into a wide grin. Babs was definitely going to end up murdering someone for this story. Xander didn't know if it was going to be Dick for telling Xander the tale or if it was going to be Xander for teasing her about it so much. They both possibly had deaths waiting ahead in their near futures. Either way, the look on her face when he brought the story up was definitely going to be worth it. Xander snorted against his palm, then gestured to Dick with a hand. "I, for one, have no complaints about this story. Please, by all means - give me some details." Because no story about a friend dressing up as a sex bunny would be complete until there were juicy details thrown in to boot. Yep, they were dead men, all right. At least they'd die with smiles on their faces.

"You ought to try and rearrange that schedule a little," Xander suggested. "I know it probably sounds lame to someone like you, but planning around the crime stopping and the sleeping will probably go a long way. 'Course, figuring out when and where the crime happens would probably help with the whole planning thing..." Xander trailed off. Hmm. That did put a damper in things, didn't it? Why couldn't crime be more organized and convenient?! "Or you could even stick to that whole common sense phrase with you being just one man and get that sleep anyway."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

onatightrope
2010-08-20 10:11 pm UTC (link)

Death by Babs wasn't something Dick was unfamiliar with. So this? Was just a bonus. He watched Xander with amusement dancing over his features as he reacted appropriately and he knew there was going to be teasing. One of them was going to let the cat out of the bag, and Babs was going to have a fit. He was possibly going to see her yell in the near future, and the very thought of that was even more entertaining. "Mistress Barbara. " He mused aloud and grinned cattily. "As long as you have no issues. Then I'll continue. " There were crude gestures involved with Dick's style of storytelling just to make things worse for poor Babs teasing. " There were I think, five guys at once Babs had to seduce? And if you knew her back in the day watching her seduce was about as sexy as a train wreck. " He laughed at the memory. "I almost wished I brought popcorn along for that."

"I've tried, unfortunately it never sticks. Bad guys aren't exactly on a convenient schedule." He shrugged and peered over at him in curiosity. "Babs has told me that so many times I've lost track. If I listened now I think she might have a heart attack." He chuckled as he leaned his arms on the table and relaxed a little.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

xander_shaped
2010-08-21 08:28 pm UTC (link)

"Do I look like the kind of guy who has issues?" Probably not a question anyone should answer. All righty, rephrase. "I have no issues with the storytelling whatsoever. Please, do a man a favor and spill the story before I spontaneously combust. You can't dangle something that good in front of a guy and deprive him from the details!" It was wrong. Very, very wrong. Besides, how was he going to efficiently badger Babs about it if he didn't know the whole story? Thankfully, Dick didn't seem interested in depriving Xander for too long. Five guys. Seducing. That had to have been beautiful. "I can't imagine Babs seducing one guy, let alone five. Jeez, how'd she manage that one? Did she manage it at all?" Maybe she just got irritated and kicked all their asses. Or maybe she really did pull through with it in the end. She was an attractive woman, Xander just didn't think that she'd be able to get away with the whole seduction thing. She would have been better off acting like herself.

"It's not bad advice," Xander said, shrugging. "I'm not the best at keeping up with a very strict schedule myself, but having an idea on when you're gonna eat and sleep isn't a bad plan for anyone, is it?" Those were the two most essential things in Xander's life. And not just because they were healthy either - Xander enjoyed his meals and sleep, thank you very much. What was a man without them? "But don't do it because someone is telling you to do it. Do it because you want to. Besides, this isn't exactly Gotham, is it? I'm sure you can find the time to make things work for you." He didn't think that the crime would have been as bad. Unless they were dealing with one of those demon influxes or some crazy event from the beyond or something like that.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

onatightrope
2010-08-26 01:22 am UTC (link)

"Good man." He stated teasingly with a smug look on his face. "Oh, there are details. And photographic evidence." Dick mused and pulled out his wallet. He didn't have much in it at the moment money wise, but somethings had more value. And this time the value was golden. He thumbed a picture he'd gotten off of one of Batman's spy cams from the clear plastic and revealed a racy picture of Babs in very revealing and tight laced clothing. She was younger then of course, still the Batgirl of the team-which Dick enjoyed thoroughly about the image infact and made a point to state that. "I think she was just starting with us at the time I managed to hack this out of the Bat Computer." Everything was the bat-something with Bruce. At first Dick felt ridiculous saying it, but after a while it was almost normal.

"I've been doing it since I was Robin, it's a habit that may be hard to break. "He took a bite of his pizza and finished it up. Along with it, there was a smoothie drink he'd swiped from someone in the kitchen-he wasn't sure whose it was but he'd replace it later. It was blueberry juice and one of his favorite things. So he couldn't resist. "It isn't as bad, no. I can at least take a few nights off probably, but it's hard you know being in a routine for years and suddenly not having to."

(Reply to this) (Parent)