batmanschmatman | 038 [audio]

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038 [audio]

I know it's kind of ridiculous to try to look for a point to any of this? But I still think it if we were going to be able to be contacted by people not on the Barge, it would have been more handy to let us pick who we could contact. And when to contact them in the timeline.

I hate time travel.

[Private to Costigan]

I saw you talking with Sullivan. How are you doing?

[Private to Hayley]

So, I met your Harvey.

[Private to Bruce; added a little later]

You told Crane?

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I'll find out. [FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. That is all.]

Let me know how it goes. [Dick might just punch him. :c]

I'm sorry, how is it okay for him to tell Crane, but he was like, irritated that we told Sylar and Costigan?

[Sigh.]

I don't think he told him, exactly. [Yes that was muttered.] What did he say to you?

He blew it and Crane knows. That's the important part.

What do you mean? [Guarded question is guarded. :|]

'Approach with caution. He isn't pulling punches.' You're mad. [Tim r observant damn it. :|]

[Damn right he mad. :|] You want to head up to the CES or something?

[Also he can take a hint.] I'll meet you there.

[Dick's already up on deck waiting outside the CES for Tim, his bruised hand shoved in his sweatshirt pocket so it wouldn't raise immediate suspicions, and while he's not really spiraling like he was when this all first started, he's still tense and unhappy, and there's no real use hiding it.]

[Nope. And Tim sees that pretty quickly as he walks up.] Hey, [He called, coming up alongside Dick.] What's in there today?

Didn't check.

[He fished the batarang out of the pocket of his jeans to unlock the door and immediately stepped inside, assuming Tim would follow him. The CES was a field, with noticeably few things to climb on, which kind of pissed him off. He liked having things to climb on when he was upset, and this was not exactly conducive to that.]

[Maybe it would make him Talk. Tim was...so not used to being the initiator. He followed Dick in and closed the door behind him.] So.

[Dick just jams his hands further into his sweatshirt pockets and starts walking.] So.

Which makes Tim frown. After a moment, h follows.] So what happened?

I tried telling him that Bruce Wayne was just as important as Batman? He wouldn't listen and I said something along the lines of it's nice to know not even dying can get you to realize how much you matter to us, anddd he said "Apparently not enough. You got on well enough, didn't you?" and called me Batman.

[There's a short pause as he keeps walking and shoves his hands even deeper in his pockets.] I am... so goddamn tired of having decisions I apparently make in the future getting thrown back in my face as proof of what a shitty human being I am.

[Damn it, Bruce. Tim runs a hand through his hair, then over his eyes. He can feel a headache starting. Damn it, damn it, damn it.]

We never should have told you what happens, [but that he was muttering to himself.]

You're not a shitty human being, Dick. We were all going through a - a bad time, and we all did stupid things. And he's having trouble maintaining here. [And this is going to be a huge thing between them, isn't it? Tim's going to slide into the metaphorical canyon.] He was wrong.

Wrong about what, deciding to blow it to Crane or to say that?

[The response is immediate, and there's... a lot of bitterness there, but not with Tim. This hurts more then he really wants to admit, because it's easier to just hide all of it under anger and patented pretending everything was fine.]

[He knows the bitterness isn't for him, so he takes it and shrugs one shoulder.] Both. I don't know if Crane will ever disappear off the Barge. I don't know if he'll just be dead, or go back to living, and I don't know if he'll have any memories of it. There are too many variables that the Admiral won't let us account for, and he made a mistake in not counting those.

But he shouldn't have said that, either. [Though Tim understood why he did.]

[Dick doesn't, and that's what bothers him most.] He never fails to amaze me with how self involved he can be. I mean, I like my life right now. I like being Nightwing, I don't want to be Batman and for me to give that all up - even ignoring everything else I've done for him -

[He cut himself off, self consciously rubbing a hand over his chest, right over the scar from Alexander Luthor's antimatter ray. He doesn't exactly remember much from right after it happened - besides choking on blood and kind of a vague image of Tim hovering over him and crying - and he doesn't regret doing it in the slightest, but how could Bruce possibly not get how much he meant to him, after everything he'd done and said, after all this time?

His hand drops back down after lingering for a moment and he tucked it back in his pocket.]

I don't want to go home.

[Tim notices the rubbing. How could he not? He remembers that just as clearly - probably more clearly than Dick right now. He never knows what to say about these things, though. But the idea of Dick never leaving...Tim shakes his head.]

I know I haven't been extolling the virtues of your future, but it's - it's good where I am, right now. You're good. Everything's going to be all right - and maybe it'll get better, with what we do here.

Maybe.

[But that didn't change that Bruce had died, he was Batman, Tim had run away or been forced away because he'd given Damian Robin - Damian who he didn't even know outside of stories and when he'd made contact the other day - so even if things had settled down? They were still far from fine, and he's having a hard time accepting that he'd ever make any of those choices.

So basically, he doesn't believe him.]

What do you mean, with what we do here?

You're here because of Bludhaven. [I THINK HE KNOWS THIS CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG.] Next time I go home, maybe things'll be different.

[Also hnnn Dick stop that :c] ...I like my life at home, you know.

[Even if he didn't specifically say it, I think Tim's smart enough to put two and two together. xD Dick just looks ahead at that, a little pensive, thinking about what Slade had said before he'd snapped and gotten his ass kicked.] Maybe.

[That actually gets him to stop and look at Tim for a moment though, eyes wide and a little suspicious. He can't tell if Tim's lying to make him feel better, or if he actually means it.] Really?

[OH GOOD. And Tim mostly means it. He still broods, but he's pretty content with the way things are shaping up. A place of his own, a team, friends...and family. Sounds good to him.]

Yeah. I said, things were bad for a while. We all did stupid things. We made bad decisions. [He shrugs.] But it's a lot better now, Dick. When I went home, I was there for a while. Months. You know how fast things can change. It's better. We all are.

[Dick regards him for another long moment, still not sure, before nodding solemnly and starting to walk again.] I still don't want to make those mistakes. I mean, I'm not angry with any of you for telling me about the future, and you wouldn't have been able to keep it a secret forever, but I feel like I've got no control over what happens. I have all this information, but I won't be able to use any of it. I could leave the Barge tomorrow, come back and be a totally different person.

[Tim falls into step behind him, then next to him, silent for a few moments.]

Am I the same was I was, when I first walked into Wayne Manor?

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[Spam] lol that icon symmetry

[Spam] LOL I didn't even notice