ward of wayne, bird enthusiast, code-genius, ex-trapeze artist. which means exactly what you think it does. free dinner to the first name joke I haven't heard.
[ 'just bruce wayne' doesn't really capture it, does it? not when dick feels like he's building and building and building up to something that was already not going to be as momentous and important as he thought. still, the door opens, and he feels himself freeze for a second, unsure of what he expects to find and what will be there, standing before him.
he sees bruce. bruce. with the same chin and the same clothes and the same set to his shoulders. adoptive father, billionaire savior, batman.
older. dick can't help the way he nearly winces at that.
but he pushes passed it, gives a smile at the hello. his hands don't leave the pockets of his jacket, and as bruce steps aside, dick moves on into the entryway and a bit further into the house, his eyes immediately taking stock of everything around him. picking out this, and that, and the things that are obviously not bruce's. interesting. ]
Little whelmed, but not bumped or bruised. [ his eyes continue to wander, before he ends up turning back to face where bruce is standing, giving him another easy smile. though, of course, it's dick - bruce trained him - so the tension in his shoulders would be easy enough to pick out. ] This place takes a little getting used to, I'm finding, but not for the ways I thought.
[ dick pauses here, looking at bruce a bit expectantly. well? anything to add? ]
Is this your first experience with multiple universes? [ The tension is noted, but not processed as out of the ordinary; it's unfortunate but the reality of things that, over the past ten years, Dick is more likely to be at odds with him than anything. The young man standing before him now looks to be about the right age to have had that one truly awful fight that led to him leaving for Bludhaven. Bruce's refusal to push him to return, born of a fear that pushing would only cause Dick to shut him out permanently, casts a shadow to this day.
But-- he exhales, the look on his face very briefly apologetic. ] There's an older Dick Grayson here who is from my world. I'm unlikely to be the man you know, exactly. But that doesn't mean you don't know me at all.
Beyond textbooks and lectures. [ well, yes. there's a tension. dick doesn't know if there ever won't be. he's moved out of the mansion and onto bludhaven, has continued to the young justice team without the overhanging bat symbol over their heads. they've...well. it's complicated, to say the least, but he doesn't harbor anything overbearingly bitter towards bruce.
he doesn't think he ever could.
however, there's a level that the bruce would go to apologize. he kind of has, in his own way. this? this is...more. like he's making up for something. like he's trying. it's almost...overwhelming, in a way. a briefly apologetic look is still apologetic and still there, and dick kind of ends up watching him for a second after it.
but there it is again. older dick grayson. of course he'd be from his world. of course he would know him. the bitterness comes in a quick wave, and then is gone again, controlled. dick gives a sort of half-smile. ]
No, I can't imagine universes would change Bruce Wayne all that much. [ which is comforting, as much as dick doesn't want to admit it. this may not be his bruce, but he's still a bruce, and there will always be comfort in that for him, no matter if he's living in the mansion or not. ]
But I've met him. Or- texted. He seems pretty popular around here. [ dick's eyes continue to scan around the room they're in, trying to settle on what exactly brought him here and what he wanted to get out of this talk in the first place.
it's been a day, heavy on the aster, so trying to weight out the important information is taking dick a little longer than normal. ]
You'd be surprised, [ is deadpan. The short brunette one was eyeroll-inducing at best, and the alcoholic is too slow. They're not the first alternates of himself Bruce has ever met, though, so they just go on the list of oddities he's experienced along with everything else.
Also deadpan: ] I've heard that.
[ He's not in a hurry to discuss his son's sex life, which is absolutely what 'popular' in Eudio means. ]
I'm not yet. [ but he's smiling, just a little competitively, poking away at bruce like he can't help but do. he's trying to gather any kind of information, which is something he should probably know from the start is a bit futile.
it's bruce wayne. he'll never really know all of it. ]
It's pretty whelming, for someone just showing up. [ no, he probably wouldn't want to discuss as much. dick is having a hard enough time thinking that it's somehow??? his own sex life??? in another universe.
it's making his head hurt. ]
Wh- oh. [ he'd feel worse if it wasn't the world's greatest detective reading him like a book. he shrugs. ] Yeah, sure, if you have any.
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he sees bruce. bruce. with the same chin and the same clothes and the same set to his shoulders. adoptive father, billionaire savior, batman.
older. dick can't help the way he nearly winces at that.
but he pushes passed it, gives a smile at the hello. his hands don't leave the pockets of his jacket, and as bruce steps aside, dick moves on into the entryway and a bit further into the house, his eyes immediately taking stock of everything around him. picking out this, and that, and the things that are obviously not bruce's. interesting. ]
Little whelmed, but not bumped or bruised. [ his eyes continue to wander, before he ends up turning back to face where bruce is standing, giving him another easy smile. though, of course, it's dick - bruce trained him - so the tension in his shoulders would be easy enough to pick out. ] This place takes a little getting used to, I'm finding, but not for the ways I thought.
[ dick pauses here, looking at bruce a bit expectantly. well? anything to add? ]
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But-- he exhales, the look on his face very briefly apologetic. ] There's an older Dick Grayson here who is from my world. I'm unlikely to be the man you know, exactly. But that doesn't mean you don't know me at all.
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he doesn't think he ever could.
however, there's a level that the bruce would go to apologize. he kind of has, in his own way. this? this is...more. like he's making up for something. like he's trying. it's almost...overwhelming, in a way. a briefly apologetic look is still apologetic and still there, and dick kind of ends up watching him for a second after it.
but there it is again. older dick grayson. of course he'd be from his world. of course he would know him. the bitterness comes in a quick wave, and then is gone again, controlled. dick gives a sort of half-smile. ]
No, I can't imagine universes would change Bruce Wayne all that much. [ which is comforting, as much as dick doesn't want to admit it. this may not be his bruce, but he's still a bruce, and there will always be comfort in that for him, no matter if he's living in the mansion or not. ]
But I've met him. Or- texted. He seems pretty popular around here. [ dick's eyes continue to scan around the room they're in, trying to settle on what exactly brought him here and what he wanted to get out of this talk in the first place.
it's been a day, heavy on the aster, so trying to weight out the important information is taking dick a little longer than normal. ]
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Also deadpan: ] I've heard that.
[ He's not in a hurry to discuss his son's sex life, which is absolutely what 'popular' in Eudio means. ]
Do you want coffee?
[ He can tell you're nervous, kiddo. ]
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it's bruce wayne. he'll never really know all of it. ]
It's pretty whelming, for someone just showing up. [ no, he probably wouldn't want to discuss as much. dick is having a hard enough time thinking that it's somehow??? his own sex life??? in another universe.
it's making his head hurt. ]
Wh- oh. [ he'd feel worse if it wasn't the world's greatest detective reading him like a book. he shrugs. ] Yeah, sure, if you have any.