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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[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?

[Is this a trick question? Dick is just going to be quiet for a beat, looking at him a little suspiciously. Where are you going with this, Tim.]

No.

[TOTALLY A TRICK QUESTION. BWAHAHAH, YOU HAVE FALLEN INTO THE TRAP. :|]

So I changed as I grew up.

[GDI WHY DO I KEEP YOU AROUND. :|]

So, what's that got to do with this? Last time I checked, you didn't have me from the future saying "hey Tim, you're going to grow up to be like this, just so you know" to let you know that things were going to be different.

[Because your other little brothers suck? :|a]

Do you really need me from your future telling you that you're going to change over the next couple years? Wally had a ten year difference while he was here. That's not weird, or traumatic, that's life. It changes.

[sob so true never change, Tim :| Dick's about to pull out his right hand to run it through his hair, but at the last second remembers it's still bruised and swollen and switches to his left.]

Doesn't mean I have to be excited about it. [Why yes, he is stubborn.]

[They all are. :| And Tim notices that switcheroo.] I wouldn't be. But it's normal, Dick, and it isn't all bad, and if I'm saying that, you know it has to be true. What's up with your hand?

[He really wants to just trust him, but considering he had that trust kind of stomped all over by another member of their awesome family, he's a little more hesitant then usual. Still, this is Tim, not Bruce, and he finally relaxes a little and actually tells the truth.] Oh. I broke it. Seven used a bone healer on it, so I think it's okay, it's just sore.

See? [He holds it up for inspection, and while it's still swollen and bruised, with a split over the middle knuckle that's been bandaged, it's seriously not actually broken.]

[Tim stops and leans over to inspect the hand and....that looks pretty good for having been recently broken.] Jeez. Were you punching a wall?

Just once. [Which means he hit it pretty fucking hard. :|]

Ouch. [He doesn't chastise, because...he's done dumb shit like that too.] Thank God for the Doctor.

Tell me about it. [He carefully flexes his fingers, winces and tucks it away again, shrugging.] I've been icing it. Might even be nice to get some practice in on left handed stuff for a while.

[He is - however - not taking painkillers because lol, last time that happened guess who got his hands on them. >>]

038 [audio]

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[Spam] lol that icon symmetry

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