IC Inbox - Metaheroes

[forceforlight]

INBOX

(Please note if you are messaging Nightwing's official inbox or contacting Dick Grayson)

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[forceforlight]

Tim. Detective? Remember?

[mostdangerousbird]

Investigative. You’re not a sexuality detective.

[forceforlight]

No, but I can connect dots when I see them.

What I'm saying is that, no. Kon didn't tell me. I worked it out for myself.

Look. Come over. I'll make you tea and I have some fresh pastries and we can talk more.

[mostdangerousbird]

Getting Jason to stop being annoying isn’t really a talk.

[forceforlight]

Much easier to get you to come here and pet Haley than it is to get Jason to stop being annoying.

[mostdangerousbird]

I just need a plan for how to handle it if Kon decides to make me his compliment of the day again. I don’t want to upset the balance.

[forceforlight]

[Why are you like this, Tim? Oh, right. Chasing affection through childhood so you can't recognize it when it's trying its best to bite you.]

You could just compliment him back? Just say thank you and bask in the glow of it? Actually admit your feelings and see where it goes?

[The last is erased before sending because there are limits over text.]

[mostdangerousbird]

[ He recognizes physical affection. Hugs, hair ruffles, kisses. Different levels of affection for different people. ]

Realistically, I can’t. That’s not how we interact. How I interact. I’ll tell someone that they did a good job or reinforce positives if they’re down, but I don’t walk into a room and tell someone that red looks good on them.

Not unless I’m pretending to be someone else.

[forceforlight]

Then just accept it and say thank you. Say something nice about his cooking or something else if the time comes up naturally, rather than feeling you have to force a compliment in return. That's kinda how the rest of us do it, anyway.

[mostdangerousbird]

I can’t do that if the natural escalation is for it to be interpreted as flirting. Because apparently friends can’t compliment each other.

[forceforlight]

Tim. Jason was being a little shit and teasing you. Most people don't consider it to be flirting. Just chalk it up as Jason being Jason.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ He can’t even explain without addressing the issue. This is pointless. ]

Fine.

[forceforlight]

[There's more to say. He can't say it over text.]

Get over here. Your niece is missing her favorite, most permissive uncle.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ Mistake. Now he’s on Dick’s radar. ]

Where’s here?

Does Haley want bar food?

[forceforlight]

[An address, then:]

Haley will eat anything.

[He's at least half certain that 'does Haley want' also means 'do you want', but somehow, it's easier to ask about Haley.]

[mostdangerousbird]

Sounds like some people I know. My shift ends in 30.

[ About 45 minutes later, there's a knock and the door and the smell of fries and random appetizers. ]

[forceforlight]

And most of their names have an F in there somewhere.

[The Flashes. He means the Flashes.]

[The barking starts immediately after the knock, followed by Dick's immediate, "Haley!". It's another moment before the door opens, with Dick now holding the puppy. Who looks absolutely unrepentant.]

Hey. Come on in.

[The apartment is small, but surprisingly clean for a place where Dick Grayson lives. Then again, he hasn't accumulated much stuff here, either. But there's a couch and a coffee table, a small kitchenette that actually looks like it's been used. Two doors off the main room. And plenty of toys for Haley. Including a stuffed Fantastic that has obviously been well chewed by now.]

Just let me put Haley down and I'll get the tea going. Unless you want something else?

[Tea is comfort. Alfred did that for all of them, after all.]

[mostdangerousbird]

Tea's fine.

[ There's no need to go to any real trouble, but it goes with the promised pastries if not the bar food. He holds of the bag. ]

I brought grease and a plain burger for Bitewing.

[forceforlight]

She'll appreciate the burger.

[Dick gets out a couple of cups, putting on an electric kettle to heat the water. Then he gets out some plates for bar food.]

[Haley, for her part, dances around Tim's feet. Still small enough that she doesn't quite realize how dangerous it is for people when she's right there.]

[mostdangerousbird]

[ Tim minds the pup as he follows Dick further into apartment. She really does just make him laugh like no one else can. ]

Hey, Haley girl. I’ve got something for you too, don’t worry.

[ He plops the entire bag on one of the plates and digs out the most important part (her burger) and begins tearing off bites and prompting Haley to sit, roll over, for bites. ]

[forceforlight]

[Haley is actually really attentive. Well, as long as there's food involved. Once the burger is gone, she contents herself with licking any leftover grease from Tim's fingers.]

[Dick brings over the tea, along with a couple of waters. The water being easier with the junk food than tea, probably.]

Thanks for coming over. Things got a bit heated and...honestly, I probably only saw about half of it.

[Part of it being he knows some things went private. The rest that he stopped reading after a bit because everything got derailed.]

I like the new name and look, though. It suits you.

[mostdangerousbird]

I wouldn’t call it heated.

[ Not falling for it, Dick. Not even for Alfred’s tea. ]

Thanks. It… wasn’t planned that far in advance, but I felt like I had to do it. In a good way. It was my choice.

[forceforlight]

[It may not be meant as a dig at the way Dick took Robin away from Tim, but it's not NOT meant as a dig, either. Which is why Dick grimaces before letting it roll by. He's not going to make a thing out of it.]

Okay. Maybe heated is the wrong word. But Jason was definitely picking at you and you were rising to the bait. I get why, though. I do.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ A small dig. A peck. But more clarification: his choice and he’s confident about it. It’s not the beginning of a spiral.

Tim flicks a sideeye at I do. No, he doesn’t know. Tim has been so careful about what he says and how he looks at Kon. He slipped when Kon was dead. That’s it.

He’ll just pick up Haley and put her on the counter to feed her. ]

[forceforlight]

[As with so many things, Dick probably gets it better than Tim would like. Dick has always been good at reading people, after all.]

[Which is why he sighs, blowing on his tea.]

I meant more that it's difficult not to once Jason finds the right buttons to push, little bird.