![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
From Florida, With Love
So, as you may or may not know, I am in Florida. Where it is not snowing and is, in fact, eighty degrees today. It is also Humid, which means my hair has turned into a big cloud. But the main point there was me laughing at all of you who are currently in the frigid North.
I owe someone a science post, but I will do that after vacation. In the meantime, you can have some fic:
Title: Brother
Fandom: DCAU
Rating: PG
Warnings: It has the Grey in it. That counts, I think, as your warning.
Jeremy has gotten used to people who don't use the door. Mostly it's Tim, who comes and goes and never forgets that he worries. Some of the time, it's Batman, who he regards now as one of the most fallably human people he's ever met. Batgirl even showed up once, although in her case it was more to find Tim then meet him and she'd left when he told her Tim wasn't there. Tim was, but she wasn't his mother and Tim was more than old enough to make his own descisions.
This, however, is a new one.
Tim is sitting on the floor across from the incredibly bendy man, and they are apparently competing to see how much they can stretch their bodies. The amazing thing was that Tim is losing, where he hadn't previously thought that possible.
"Tim?" he asks.
Tim unfolds and pads over to give him a hug, before turning back to the stranger.
The man smiles kind of nervously and waves and says, "Hi. Um. Jeremy?"
And there is no way that the whoever-he-is didn't know Jeremy's name and probably his grandmother's birthday, which meant he's nervous-or at least projecting being nervous-because of him. "Yes," he says. "You are . . . ?"
"Nightwing." Tim makes a frustrated warning sound, and Nightwing blinks. "Everyone calls me Dick."
"And are you?" he asks.
"Am I what?"
"A dick."
Nightwing-call-me-Dick laughs. "I hope not, but maybe I am. I wasn't there when . . . "
"Stop," says Jeremy. "I don't want to know that, not from you."
Tim smiles then, one of his rare, open, and entirely happy smiles. It's also just the slightest bit smug, as if he was saying, 'See? I toldyou so.'
The thing is, it causes Nightwing to completely - stop. Freeze, and when he unfreezes he says in a completely calm voice unless you knew where to look, "Oh."
And Jeremy gets it, totally, because the Grey shows teeth but never smiles and Tim still doesn't smile often enough, even though he's really made for it. Probably did a lot of it before becomeing the Grey. Nightwing can't have seen it much, maybe at all, since then.
He just also gets this other (huge, glaring) thing, too. "You're the older brother," he says.
"I. Yes?"
"Huh," says Jeremy. And then, "Were you actually avoiding me?"
Nightwing sighs. "Actually I think I was, but I wasn't letting myself think about it. This section of the city belongs to the Grey, and I had no reason to be here. Especially if there was even a tiny chance that I might be threatening something that belongs to him."
"Fair enough," says Jeremy, after considering and discarding the answer that he is his own because, really, he isn't. He belongs to lots of people, and the most important one is . . . smiling again.
From Nightwing's lap, into which he'd insinuated himself and now looks about ten in comparison to the taller vigilante. Knowing that even as a ten year old he'd still kick ass doesn't, actually, help. But the fact that it is his real smile, and not the grinning rictus he uses for work, does. A little.
It helps even more when Nightwing responds in a movement that actually is unconscious, because no one who knows who the Grey is would actually do that if they thought about it, and wraps his arms around Tim. It's the exact same hug he's learned to give Tim when the tiny, tough, and often freaky kid is feeling more down that usual. Or maybe murderous; he's never really wanted to know. Nightwing does it reflexively, and Jeremy realizes that, in all probablity, Nightwing was the one who had instilled in him that particular need.
Jeremy blinks, because it's almost normal, except that it entirely isn't. "So . . . I'm guessing Tim just got tired of you not coming to see me?"
"Probably," says Nightwing, and Tim is nodding in confirmation. "Is 'nice to finally meet you' the right thing to say?"
"I don't know. I kind of just get the other ones away whenever they show up, but Tim never dragged them here."
"No, he wouldn't." Nightwing squeezes Tim a little. "Batman, you might have noticed, is not the best with emotions?"
"That's an understatement," Jeremy nods.
Nightwing smiles a little, faintly. "Yeah, well. He doesn't . . . he didn't cope. It was either I take Tim or we leave him in an institution somewhere." And now he's actually petting Tim, running first one hand through his hair,then the other. "That wasn't much of a choice."
"And you let him wander around at night."
"Yeah." For a moment, Nightwing looks almost shifty. "I followed him around at first, and then-well, either I was going to trust him or I wasn't. No middle ground."
Jeremy blinks. "That's not good enough!"
Both Nightwing and Tim are looking at him.
"I mean, it's great that he's okay, or, well, getting better. I'm happy I have him. But what if he hadn't found me? What if something went wrong, and he was - like Two-face?"
Nightwing blinks. Tim doesn't, and Jeremy knows he touched something there, something deep and painful.
Then Nightwing says, "Yeah. I can see why he chose you."
"But-" He is hushed by Tim leaning forward and putting a finger to his lips.
"Didn't happen," says Tim, and then, more firmly, "Not Two-face. The Joker."
Jeremy swallows. That was in the Grey's voice, and yeah, he'd known it had been something bad, but. Wow. The Joker. Tim would have had to have been one of his . . . last. Victims.
Oh.
"I'm sorry," he says, really feeling no more terrified of his older brother than usual but very much more useless.
Tim smiles sadly and shakes his head. "You help. Every day."
He looks to Nightwing for aid, but Nightwing is kind of half-smiling and holds up his hands as if to say, 'don't look at me!' So he turns back to Tim and puts an arm around him and pulls him into a kind of half-hug and says, "Of course. That's what brothers do. Right?"
"Absolutely," says Nightwing.
So Jeremy turns out not to be anything like Alfred, which is odd because I definitely was planning on having him be Tim's Alfred. He did get the sarcasm, though, and that's something.
Imagine having this guy living in your head.
I owe someone a science post, but I will do that after vacation. In the meantime, you can have some fic:
Title: Brother
Fandom: DCAU
Rating: PG
Warnings: It has the Grey in it. That counts, I think, as your warning.
Jeremy has gotten used to people who don't use the door. Mostly it's Tim, who comes and goes and never forgets that he worries. Some of the time, it's Batman, who he regards now as one of the most fallably human people he's ever met. Batgirl even showed up once, although in her case it was more to find Tim then meet him and she'd left when he told her Tim wasn't there. Tim was, but she wasn't his mother and Tim was more than old enough to make his own descisions.
This, however, is a new one.
Tim is sitting on the floor across from the incredibly bendy man, and they are apparently competing to see how much they can stretch their bodies. The amazing thing was that Tim is losing, where he hadn't previously thought that possible.
"Tim?" he asks.
Tim unfolds and pads over to give him a hug, before turning back to the stranger.
The man smiles kind of nervously and waves and says, "Hi. Um. Jeremy?"
And there is no way that the whoever-he-is didn't know Jeremy's name and probably his grandmother's birthday, which meant he's nervous-or at least projecting being nervous-because of him. "Yes," he says. "You are . . . ?"
"Nightwing." Tim makes a frustrated warning sound, and Nightwing blinks. "Everyone calls me Dick."
"And are you?" he asks.
"Am I what?"
"A dick."
Nightwing-call-me-Dick laughs. "I hope not, but maybe I am. I wasn't there when . . . "
"Stop," says Jeremy. "I don't want to know that, not from you."
Tim smiles then, one of his rare, open, and entirely happy smiles. It's also just the slightest bit smug, as if he was saying, 'See? I toldyou so.'
The thing is, it causes Nightwing to completely - stop. Freeze, and when he unfreezes he says in a completely calm voice unless you knew where to look, "Oh."
And Jeremy gets it, totally, because the Grey shows teeth but never smiles and Tim still doesn't smile often enough, even though he's really made for it. Probably did a lot of it before becomeing the Grey. Nightwing can't have seen it much, maybe at all, since then.
He just also gets this other (huge, glaring) thing, too. "You're the older brother," he says.
"I. Yes?"
"Huh," says Jeremy. And then, "Were you actually avoiding me?"
Nightwing sighs. "Actually I think I was, but I wasn't letting myself think about it. This section of the city belongs to the Grey, and I had no reason to be here. Especially if there was even a tiny chance that I might be threatening something that belongs to him."
"Fair enough," says Jeremy, after considering and discarding the answer that he is his own because, really, he isn't. He belongs to lots of people, and the most important one is . . . smiling again.
From Nightwing's lap, into which he'd insinuated himself and now looks about ten in comparison to the taller vigilante. Knowing that even as a ten year old he'd still kick ass doesn't, actually, help. But the fact that it is his real smile, and not the grinning rictus he uses for work, does. A little.
It helps even more when Nightwing responds in a movement that actually is unconscious, because no one who knows who the Grey is would actually do that if they thought about it, and wraps his arms around Tim. It's the exact same hug he's learned to give Tim when the tiny, tough, and often freaky kid is feeling more down that usual. Or maybe murderous; he's never really wanted to know. Nightwing does it reflexively, and Jeremy realizes that, in all probablity, Nightwing was the one who had instilled in him that particular need.
Jeremy blinks, because it's almost normal, except that it entirely isn't. "So . . . I'm guessing Tim just got tired of you not coming to see me?"
"Probably," says Nightwing, and Tim is nodding in confirmation. "Is 'nice to finally meet you' the right thing to say?"
"I don't know. I kind of just get the other ones away whenever they show up, but Tim never dragged them here."
"No, he wouldn't." Nightwing squeezes Tim a little. "Batman, you might have noticed, is not the best with emotions?"
"That's an understatement," Jeremy nods.
Nightwing smiles a little, faintly. "Yeah, well. He doesn't . . . he didn't cope. It was either I take Tim or we leave him in an institution somewhere." And now he's actually petting Tim, running first one hand through his hair,then the other. "That wasn't much of a choice."
"And you let him wander around at night."
"Yeah." For a moment, Nightwing looks almost shifty. "I followed him around at first, and then-well, either I was going to trust him or I wasn't. No middle ground."
Jeremy blinks. "That's not good enough!"
Both Nightwing and Tim are looking at him.
"I mean, it's great that he's okay, or, well, getting better. I'm happy I have him. But what if he hadn't found me? What if something went wrong, and he was - like Two-face?"
Nightwing blinks. Tim doesn't, and Jeremy knows he touched something there, something deep and painful.
Then Nightwing says, "Yeah. I can see why he chose you."
"But-" He is hushed by Tim leaning forward and putting a finger to his lips.
"Didn't happen," says Tim, and then, more firmly, "Not Two-face. The Joker."
Jeremy swallows. That was in the Grey's voice, and yeah, he'd known it had been something bad, but. Wow. The Joker. Tim would have had to have been one of his . . . last. Victims.
Oh.
"I'm sorry," he says, really feeling no more terrified of his older brother than usual but very much more useless.
Tim smiles sadly and shakes his head. "You help. Every day."
He looks to Nightwing for aid, but Nightwing is kind of half-smiling and holds up his hands as if to say, 'don't look at me!' So he turns back to Tim and puts an arm around him and pulls him into a kind of half-hug and says, "Of course. That's what brothers do. Right?"
"Absolutely," says Nightwing.
So Jeremy turns out not to be anything like Alfred, which is odd because I definitely was planning on having him be Tim's Alfred. He did get the sarcasm, though, and that's something.
Imagine having this guy living in your head.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject