tfln

[gutties]

That's not really a thing that happens, is it?

Comments

[cohero]

I ... I don't know Bruce.
Better than where it is now. You've been my driving force for so long.
I don't even really know who I am apart from you and I'm trying to figure it out.

[batsymbol]

If you're asking me who I want you to be, it's to be better.

( than me. )

[cohero]

I know.
You've always wanted that, and I do too in a way.
I'm trying. I still fuck it all up.

[batsymbol]

We all do.

[cohero]

Am I allowed to say I miss you now and then.

[batsymbol]

( that's complicated — bruce is complicated, but. )

If that's how you feel.

[cohero]

[dick gets that. he's lived with it. he could barely say the words, even phrased as they were.]

Maybe we could have a beer sometime.

[batsymbol]

( dick will have always come to him at a point in his life when he wanted to help someone else and, in doing so, he himself was helped in ways he never thought he needed. )

Where?

[cohero]

I'm in Gotham. We could go to the bar we usually hit up, or I could meet you at the mansion.

[batsymbol]

Mansion might be better.

( reclusive prince of gotham and all. )

[cohero]

[he figured as much]

When would you like to meet?

[batsymbol]

Whenever's fine for you. I'll make it work.

[cohero]

I could come now, unless you're working.

[batsymbol]

If working includes looking over various delivery menus.

[cohero]

Deciding what to eat is the worst kind of work.

[batsymbol]

I think attempting to cook might be worse.

[cohero]

That's hilarious. Alfred might get out the knives.

[batsymbol]

Not like I'd stop him.

( he'd deserve it. )

[cohero]

Bruce.
Maybe I need to come stay for a few days.

[batsymbol]

I know how to order in.

[cohero]

It was a joke. You made one, I made one.
You got morbid. I get it, but man I worry.
Maybe we both need this drink.

[batsymbol]

Whenever you're up for it.

[cohero]

[Rather than spend his time texting anymore, Dick does what he set out to do with the first text he got, which was visit Bruce. There had been days when he'd been happy after he left, but not a lot of them. He'd become increasingly disillusioned about who he was if he wasn't Batman's Robin anymore.

Maybe it wasn't the traditional bond, but they'd had... something together. Fighting in Gotham's underbelly was life. They'd both been raised into the darkness. The trip was fast. Dick never moved slow. Not too much time lapsed before he was letting himself into the mansion like he always did. It took a little bit before he found Bruce. ]

Hey. Did you ever decide on dinner?

[He spoke rather softly, even though he knew that Bruce was aware the second he'd crossed the manor's threshold.]

[batsymbol]

( he's half-expecting dick to show up, in all honesty. so when he does, he's not all that surprised.

sitting there in a far too elaborate looking chair, he's staring at a menu he holds between his hands before he glances past it — glances to dick — then looks back to it. )

Not yet.

( but he's working on it.

a glance past the menu again, it's over to a bar cart there on the side, one he knows dick has seen before and thus, knows already the assortment of drinks on there with the glasses in various sizes. )

Help yourself in the meantime.

[cohero]

[It's never really a casual beer between them, but the cart looks equally as good at this juncture. Crossing the room, Dick grabs two glasses and pours them each a glass of Bruce's fine bourbon. Moving back, he settles on a chair near his mentor and places the alcohol next to him.

He scans Bruce from top to bottom, looking for new bruises, cuts or the like. It's not like he'd worry over them. He knows they are fairly normal in their line of work. There's rarely a night that goes by where Dick doesn't end up with one new bruise, despite the efficacy of his suit.

Mainly, Dick moves to meet Bruce's eyes and see what settles there. That's the tell he needs. If he can even read it.]

What's the debate? or haven't you narrowed it down?