schizoauthoress: (Batfamily-Robins 1-4)
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Yes, the title is a reference to Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" poem. I don't know if it fits, exactly, but I like the poem and kept it in mind when thinking about the prompt.

I call this a semi-prequel to the Curse!verse because it nails down the timeline to a point where I think I messed up the Batfamily lineup. By the time One Year Later happened and this scene was acted out in canon, I think Cass was no longer Batgirl? Well, maybe this happens, and Cass comes back, and THEN the 'Curse of Aine' happens. I dunno.

Also, the Curse!verse is going to be Dick/Jason and [livejournal.com profile] museofspeed specifically asked for genfic. So this doesn't have to be followed by 'Curse of Aine'. But assume that a similar scene happened in the Curse!verse to get Nightwing and Red Hood in Gotham at the start.

Title: Good Bridges Make Good Brothers
Author: D.L.SchizoAuthoress
Rating: G/PG?
Spoilers: Nightwing #119; the whole OYL messiness.
Warnings: lots of dialogue taken from Nightwing #119
Prompt: DCU; Dick, Jason (Gen please); rebuilding bridges
Word Count: 584
Summary: Dick holds his tongue and uses his brain at the right moment.

'The Curse of Aine' Semi-Prequel:
Good Bridges Make Good Brothers

(originally posted here, you know where.)
------

"Gloating in front of the guy who just saved your life?" Jason teased, smirking.

Angrily, Nightwing demanded, "Jason, what the hell are you doing in that costume?"

"Nightwinging, obviously. Somebody had to." His eyes narrow, and his right hand flashes out, butt of his palm smashing into the point of Nightwing's chin. "Where the hell you been for the last year, partner?" He backflipped away toward the middle of the roof before Nightwing could retaliate, "..Not pretending to be the Red Hood, that's for sure. Got tired of the outfit?"

"Yeah, well I don't loan-lease--" Nightwing retorted, giving chase, "...'specially to murdering misfits!"

"Jealous of my style?" Jason asked with a grin. "The public loves it! Always give the public what it wants, partner!"

Nightwing used his good hand to vault over Jason's body, grumbling, "There's that word again." He landed in a crouch behind Jason.

"Just doling out justice, pard, like any good Nightwi--"

Nightwing whipped up into a standing position, throwing a side-kick that impacted the small of Jason's back, right in the middle of his spiel. Jason grunted in pain and went sprawling. Nightwing followed, snarling, "Like slitting that kidnapper's throat? And probably scarring that poor kid for life?"

Jason rolled over onto his back and used his left hand to prop himself up, looking up at Nightwing with a smile. He shrugged with one shoulder and said, "Hey, I didn't wanna take your place, Dickster!" He reached out his free hand to Nightwing, "But now yer back-- I'm willing to be magnanimous! Fifty-fifty, all the way!"

'You're delusional,' were the first words that popped into Dick's mind. They were on the tip of his tongue, but somehow, he couldn't say them. Even with his eyes behind the white-out lenses of the Nightwing mask he wore, Jason's whole bearing radiated hope. The desperate, half-cringing hope of a puppy that's been kicked and abused all his short life, yet he cannot resist asking for kindness one more time. Nightwing reached out.

Bruce's voice, anger a thin veneer over the helplessness he feels, over the love and concern he can't conceal with the 'Batman voice'. "You know how I feel about killing, and you know why." Batman's inflexible code.

'But Jason... Jason knows that you won't kill. And he hates you for it because he doesn't know why.' Dick thought, as he took Jason's hand. 'I need to... I need to be my brother's keeper.' He pulls on Jason's arm, which tenses beneath his grip -- Jason wasn't expecting to be helped to his feet. "Jason..." Nightwing said gruffly, "If you're going to be my partner, there have got to be some ground rules."

It's slow to dawn on Jason that his offer had been accepted, but when it did... his smile was so bright and full of joy -- so unlike the cynical smiles that Dick remembered from the boy who was Robin -- that it made Dick's heart hurt. "All right!" Jason exclaimed gleefully, "Can you see the headlines? 'Double Threat! Criminals Beware -- The Nightwingers Are In Town!'"

Nightwing raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, the name needs work..." Jason admitted, slinging an arm around Nightwing's shoulders. "Maybe I could wear green instead of blue! You could call me 'Firefly'!"

'Maybe this can work.' Dick thought. Another look at how happy Jason was firmed his resolve. 'No. This has to work. Our family already failed you too many times, little brother. I won't fail you again.'

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SchizoAuthoress | Vonn Loren

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