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[ Dick sinks into the couch, staring at Jason with wide eyes.

Talia and Bruce having a thing for each other isn't a secret. It's well-known (and hated) by both Dick and Alfred. But it escalating into having a kid? Is mind-boggling. But Talia hiding him from Bruce isn't entirely shocking-- she's loyal to her father over everyone else, even Bruce. If he wanted Talia to keep the secret, she would. If he wanted a good little heir, she'd raise one.

That poor kid. ]

I never liked her, but I think I hate her now.

[ Wait. ]

If he knows older not-me, is he going to be freaked out by me?

( dick sits, and jason sits down on the opposite side. angles hips so he's semi-facing him, albeit not fully. the statement isn't--surprising. what talia did to damian is horrible, and they all know it. even damian. )

No. I told him you were moving in, he'll know you're around. ( there's that. and there's also-- ) He's not the Damian from my side of the multiverse either, but we spent over a year together somewhere else. Three different Dick Graysons showed up during that time. So this's an old hat to him.

[ He rubs his face and sits up a little straighter. ]

Yeah, but me being fourteen changes a lot. Everyone's a little freaked, so wouldn't he be?

[ Dick is still processing the part where older not-him played a big role in Damian's life. So many things happened in other futures and other worlds with other hims that he's constantly caught off guard, constantly learning something new. ]

It doesn't matter that much.

( they're all used to dick grayson being the oldest. the one to pull them together when they need it, who keeps his head together when tim is looking batshit (but is right), jason is being murderous, and he's been handed a tiny little assassin with a horribly large ego.

but he's not putting it on this dick grayson, and nobody else should be. jason remembers what it was like to be robin, to be constantly compared to dick and how great he was. is. he's not putting that on a fourteen year old, even if that fourteen year old is dick himself. )

There's gonna be an adjustment period for everyone, but--you're not the Dick Grayson any of us grew up with. An' no one expects you to be, not even him. You're one of ours regardless, which's all that matters.

[ Dick raises an eyebrow at Jason when he says it 'doesn't matter much.' He's pretty sure it does. A lot. But he's not really sure how to articulate how it matters, how he feels about it, whether he's happy or anxious or upset. He can't pinpoint why he's getting this sense of deja vu or why old memories are bothering him again.

So he just nods. He tries for a teasing smile, but it comes off completely fake. ]

Any other major news to drop while I'm sitting down?

You want me to dump everything on you now, or do you want time to process the obvious shit first and then get into the rest of it?

( better to ask than assume. and a lot of the other shit is just--background details that he knows will eventually come up. )

You can ask me whatever, too.

[ He takes a second to think. ]

What do you think I need to know to get through the whole... adjustment period with everyone?

Edited 2023-07-16 03:00 (UTC)

I think you've got a lot of the basics.

( dick having numerous younger siblings, damian's situation, he's--met tim by now. which is the important bit. ah, but. )

I died when I was fifteen and got shoved in a Lazarus Pit. Might come up.

( because jason both tends to be very volatile and doesn't shut up about it. )

Same as the younger me.

[ Dick just stares uncomprehendingly, like he's waiting for the punchline he knows isn't coming.

Death isn't unfamiliar to him. He's been to crime scenes, he's come across people he was too late to save, he'd gone to Kent Nelson's funeral only months ago. That ill-fated training session turned out-of-control psychic trip... his team had been connected telepathically and he felt them die one by one as he led them to their deaths.

(And glassy blue eyes the same shade as Jason's casting their empty gaze to the ceiling of a circus tent.)

He can't imagine Bruce using the Lazarus Pit. But he also can't imagine what it would do to Bruce to lose a child. It might break him. ]

Bruce used the Pit?

( bruce did get desperate, once. but it wasn't for jason. it was for damian. he pulled up jason's worst memories, tried to get him to dig into them to see if he could find a sliver of something that could be useful for bruce to try and pull damian back to life, too. it's not a memory jason likes. it's not something he likes remembering.

neither is his death, so. he sucks in a breath, lets it sit there for a moment. when he opens his mouth again, his voice is calm and steady. quiet, but steady. )

Bruce didn't use the Pit. Talia did.

[ On one hand, it makes more sense that it would be someone other than Bruce. On the other, Talia is someone he wouldn't expect to do this. Unless it was some sort of manipulation? 'I brought back your son, so now you owe me'?

Dick can tell that Jason doesn't want to talk about it really. Does it matter if he knows why? (It's going to bother him, he can already tell, but what's another unanswered question at this point?)

Instead, he sits up a little straighter and tries to seem a little less upset. ]

I still think she's a terrible person.

Yeah, she didn't do it out of the goodness of her heart.

( dick grayson in all iterations is a nosy little brat, and him being an actual little brat likely does nothing to change that. and jason's--gone through this talk so many times lately, he may as well add another one to his list. )

Our stories differ, between me and Junior. I don't have all the details behind his. But I came back before the pit. ( skipping over the very traumatic memories of digging his way out of his own grave while also suffering through over forty fractures, flash burns, a collapsed lung, and all the other bullshit that was fucked with him after the joker and the explosion. those are unnecessary. ) I just didn't come back all the way. My body was alive, but my head was empty. Talia found me, tried to pull me back out, gave up, then threw me in the Pit. Pretty sure she thought she'd get some brownie points for trying to fix the Robin he'd lost.

[ There are dozens of ulterior motives Talia or Ra's could have behind Jason's resurrection, and Dick's mind flips through them automatically. 'Brownie points' is the most generous assumption he could come up with. Given his recent experiences? Turning Jason into a weapon or a sleeper agent would be more likely, though not necessarily doable. He doesn't bother voicing any of it. It doesn't matter. Besides, Jason has probably done the same mental calculations Dick's doing now dozens of times over.

Instead: ] What brought you back?

Don't know. I was dead and then I wasn't.

( it's a nicer way of putting it. jason doesn't want to get into it, not with a kid. )

Whatever it was, it happened. Doesn't really matter what it was at this point, right?

[ He knows it's not that simple, but Dick isn't interested in dragging stuff to the surface. It's already a lot to take in, and he's sure it's not an easy thing for Jason to talk about, no matter how calm he seems.

So he just nods. ]

Thank you. For telling me.

[ Because that is one thing where not knowing could be... a little challenging. And he'd rather learn it here and now, and from the person it affected. ]

Usually people find out in a less. . easy way, figured we could avoid it like this.

( and while they're sitting down, jason's going to lean back so he can pull out a burner brick phone out of his pocket. so he can hold it out to dick. there's several numbers already programmed in it, all labeled by last name except for one: barnes, damian, drake, drake2, grayson, hawke, rayner, stark, strange, todd, todd2, wayne-- )

Figured this might come in handy. Barnes is a friend, he can kick my ass in a fight. If you ever need ground back up, you can ring him in. Stark owns the building, he's also known as Iron Man. Strange is a sorcerer, you can yell at him to get places as needed. He can create portals, and he's used to being yelled at. Barnes lives on the floor below ours, as does Hawke. Stark and Strange are upstairs. They all know about our night hobbies.

Edited 2023-07-18 02:13 (UTC)

[ Dick scrolls through the contact list as Jason talks.

It's weird to think that so many people know when it's a closely-kept secret back home. But he supposes that it might be hard to keep it a secret here, what with so many people now. He follows along but he notices Jason didn't mention one of them. ]

Who's Rayner?

( dick is still just a baby, and kyle came around--later. him not knowing isn't really surprising. he probably should have taken that into account, but ah well. )

Kyle Rayner. He's a Green Lantern. Comes around here often enough. He knows where the tower is, lives in Newark.

[ Having a GL as an ally is always a morale boost, even if Dick doesn't know him. ]

What about Hawke?

Connor, Green Arrow's son. He's easy to get along with. Strong.

( weird as hell, but he'll keep that opinion to himself. )

[ Connor Hawke, not Queen or Lance? He's sure there's a reason for that, but it's not really his business, is it? Whatever his parentage, if Jason say's he's trustworthy, that's what matters. ]

Is there anyone else here that might know not-me back home? Just as a heads-up.

Bart Allen, Wally West, Kon. There's someone named Dana Tan who came at me about being from Gotham, I haven't followed up with her and I don't know what her deal is. Aside from them? Nah.

( there's roy, too, but roy still wants to be a secret, and jason isn't going to expose him. there's no harm in keeping it on the down low right now anyway; roy isn't a threat to hide from. )

I haven't tracked down the speedsters yet, they're not really my purview. Kon's fine.

[ Three of those names don't mean anything to him. Eventually his brain will link "Allen" to "speedster" and his Superboy isn't going by Kon-El yet. One of the names makes him light up. ]

Wally's here?

[ But he deflates almost immediately. ]

But he's not the right one, is he?

[ Because his Wally isn't known to be subtle. Dick would've spotted him by now. ]

I haven't seen him in person yet. You'd have to ask Grayson.

( given they're best friends and all, he's betting grayson has some idea when and where this wally is from. )

Yeah, I'll do that.

[ Maybe. Eventually. ]

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