#and not even stupid fucking Jason deserves what the monster in your dead brother's skin would do to him.

[marypsue]

Keep seeing that post where OP starts like 'Thinking about...grieving the undead' and then adds on about like. Real life situations where people have not died but have left your life and you would have reason to grieve them.

All respect, that's an important concept, but that is not what I am thinking about when I read 'grieving the undead'.

[darkmeditation]

So in our titans server, there is a channel specifically for tweet style gossip and shit-talking courtesy of Snapper Carr. Enjoy this glory.

The following was an RP thread, peppered with the fake tweets in live-time.

Jason Todd

Jason woke up pretty early. There was already going to be talk when he and Rose left. Let alone if anyone saw him leave her room in the morning. He stirred her just enough to let her know he was leaving and why before quietly slipping out the door. He of course never expected the brother that never sleeps in be in the wrong hallway at the right time 

Tim Drake

Another sleepless night. Tim was used to it at this point, usually wiping away the hours on his computer working one of his many projects. This time though, he found himself quietly wandering the hallway after returning from a late night patrol. He rounded the corner, pulling the cowl back when he spotted Jason. He knew the room Jason was exiting, and that sinking feeling rose up inside once again. “Are you just that determined to ruin everything I like?” 

Jason Todd

"In my defense I came first in most regards so if anyone ruined..." Jason stopped himself short before they fell into the same old argument. "it's not like that Drake. Despite what you've convinced yourself I'm not a monster intent solely on your pain."

Tim Drake

“First Steph, and now Rose? Forgive me if I have a hard time believing that. I know I’m just the filthy ‘replacement’ to you, but that doesn’t mean you get to just push me aside and go after the people I care about.” His voice was raising, even if he didn’t mean for it to. At this point, he was running purely on instinct.

Jason Todd

"Oh get bent Tim. I know it might shock you to realize you don't cross my mind as near as you think you do." Jason was not about to stand there and let this little... whelp rail against him for doing nothing. "I was up in the catwalk in the theatre to have a smoke.

Steph happened to like to hang out there too. And besides. You aren't together anymore so who she spends her time with isn't your skinny asses concern. And more to the point. Rose is my friend you... You... Ass. Just cause you decided to pay a little extra attention to her this year doesn't mean you suddenly are the only one of us she gets to hang out with." The larger boy was closing the gap between them now."I'd really love to find out who shined your ass and convinced you it was the sun that my universe revolves around and leave them eating through a straw."

Tim Drake

Things were starting to boil over. Years of constant harassment were finally starting to make the cracks in Tim's normally calm demeanor appear. "I can forgive a lot of things. I forgave you beating me senseless when you first came back, I forgave you constantly referring to me only as Replacement. Hell, I even forgave the time you stole the Redbird and decided to take it on a road trip to Star City." He stepped even closer, glaring up at Jason. "But this is just one step too many." With those words he extended his staff, slamming it straight into Jason's crotch.

Jason Todd

Jason grunted hard feeling the swift snap on the staff to his crotch. "you... Self absorbed little shit..." He grabbed the staff and wrenched Tim towards him and swung to collide his forearm into his face. "this.. Is not...about... You!" Each word punctuated with a swing. "you are a smarmy, Shitty little whelp who I wish I didn't have to waste my time with. But you wiggled your way into MY family, and I came back cracked to see you in MY suit and so I am stuck with you! " Jason snarled pushed the younger boy away.

"But grasp..attempt to fucking grasp for a breif second. That me, the dead kid and Rose, the kid with the dad who fucking tortured her might appreciate each other as friend. And try to realize that in a better world you wouldn't mean shit to me and really I would love that for be how it works now. I get it man. I've made your life hell over the last few years. But goddamn it I am TRYING. I signed up for this fucking school with all your your stupid friends that hate me and all of Duck's stupid friends that mostly hate me. Because I'm TRYING to be a better fucking person. But you...you little... Troglodyte. You've got your fucking narrative to tell. You ask Rosie you ask steph what we did...see how big you feel then. "

Rose Wilson

Rose’s eyes snapped open. She could definitely hear Jason and she had thought someone else. But then the shouting increased and she really really wanted to cry because she was just so fucking tired. She stood up, slipping some shorts on under her T-shirt and putting her patch on. {SMS:RAE} There are people shouting outside my room. She then proceeded to slam the door open. "Does someone wanna tell me why in fucks sake you are screaming outside my door? I really haven't slept much in the past two days. " she could feel her anger rolling off of her in waves.

Tim Drake

Fight or flight kicked in hard. Tim couldn't see or hear anything else that was going on. All he was focused on was taking Jason down hard. Spitting blood, he charged forward. The ballistic shield within his staff deployed and he used all his strength to slam into Jason, sending him down the hallway. Once they landed, Tim put the tip of his staff inches above Jason's nose. "I don't give a damn about your sob story, and no one else does either. You skate on thin ice with everyone and you're shocked that I finally snapped?? Maybe if you weren't such an unlikable basket case, you wouldn't be in this mess."

Jason Todd

"No you stupid asshole. LOOK AROUND. The only people convinced I'm the bad guy are you and your second rate Gen titans. I don't give a fuck about your sympathy you skinny waste of space. At least I died before I got replaced. God you can't fucking for a second look at the world any way but the way you want it to be can you you cretin. You really are a little Bruce wannabe" He looked up to see Rose and knocked the staff away. "Yeah. Tim here has decide since you flirted with him me and you were never friends and all I wanna do is steal his happiness."

Tim Drake

Tim retracted the staff, stowing it away before the urge to continue beating Jason with it flared up again. He was starting to come down, with the anger slowly being replaced by regret. He definitely shouldn't have done that. He turned to Rose, the regret showing through the bruises and cuts. "I should've talked to you first, but this whole situation just didn't sit well with me. I'm sorry."

Raven

[TXT: Rose] Oh for the love of- Okay. I'll be right there.

Raven had a bad feeling, but if this involved who she thought it did... May Azar have mercy on their souls. Rose was distressed enough, she did not need this too. She needed sleep and some alone time. Raven ripped a portal open in the space before her and stepped through. As chance would have it, she stepped right in the middle of Jason and Tim. Tim. Really? Of all the people to pick a fight, and with Jason no less. There was an overbearing wave of anger and regret in this very tense, very small space.

With a snarl, the ordinarily soft-spoken girl growled and her voice came out in a deep and multi-faceted tone. "Timothy!" Raven glared at one first, and then the other. They should know better than to get her to raise her voice. "Jason!" Tense hands gripped at each of their shirts and pulled them in close to her. And her eyes went red. "What the FUCK are you two doing right now!"

Jason Todd

Jason entire being shut down as the empathic tsunami of rage washed over him and the small and extremely powerful girl was suddenly there and had him in her hands. He locked his eyes on the glower orbs of 'boy you fucked up' and looked at the disgruntled assassin he had been attempting to help just hours before. He looked away and squeaked out. "I was...I...he started it..."

Tim Drake

Tim had never experienced fear that potent before in his life. In an instant, any sense of rage or regret was gone, only to be replaced by unimaginable fear. This fear was even more potent than anything Jonathan Crane could ever concoct in a lab. He stared down at his feet, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I acted way too rashly."

Raven

The demon drew each of the boys closer to her, so close that they could feel the radiant heat emanating from her now reddened skin. Raven bared her teeth. "You absolute idiots!"

Students in the surrounding rooms were starting to poke their heads out into the hallway, only to immediately nope right on back into their rooms. "I have seen you both make some goddamned asinine choices in your life." At Jason's half-assed reply she growled deeper. He should know by now not to go there.

"I don't care who in the hell started it, I'm going to finish it." With a glance up at Rose, Raven pulled the two bat-boys apart and then slammed their heads against one another. Once she was absolutely certain that these two morons were out cold and slumped over, she let her arms drop and began to drag their not-so-happy asses off to get a proper talking to.

Rose Wilson

Rose watched everything that was happening. Certainly happy that she had called her to begin with. Though she was very happy at hoe suddenly repentant they were. "Jason you should have known better. " Rose said a she placed her hands on her hips. Raven was quite scary and she was happy that it wasn't directed at her. She ran her hand through her hair and let out a sigh of frustration. "I've literally only been asleep like two hours. And then you two idiots fight right in front of my door. ". She takes a deep breath to try and settle herself. She felt like she was vibrating with the anger she felt coursing through her. She certainly wasn't going to be able to fall right back asleep now. "Thanks Raven. I don't think I'll be going back to sleep, but these fucks deserves what they got. " Rose sighed. "I'm going to the kitchen. "

@outlawxhood @tinyballofswordfilledrage @titansinmycrosshairs

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

In The Absence Of Light - fic

Characters: Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, little bit of Damian, Tim and Cass Summary: He can’t stop thinking about it. That vision. That future. Where Damian’s dead because of him and he’s a goddamn murderer.  A/N: Based on Dick’s last vision during the Nightwing Must Die! arc. I dunno, I feel like he’d get hella emotional and fucked up about it, and just emotionally snowball himself into thinking about Damian and what the two of them have been through together, etc etc. Dick wakes up with the cat’s butt in his face.

~~

When he opened Damian’s bedroom door, that’s what he expected – Damian. Maybe Damian awake, painting, reading or listening to music. Maybe Damian sleeping, tucked in to bed for night or napping along Titus’s flank.

He didn’t expect to find Dick in there, too. On the floor, knees curled to chest, arms wrapped around them. Shoulders wracking with sobs as he hid his face in the crook of his elbow. Titus wrapped around his feet.

And he didn’t mean to, but with Bruce’s life – he feared the worst. Was Damian gone? Had something happened and he’d run away, and Dick was the first to come upon an empty bedroom? No, that wasn’t it at all. The boy was curled up in bed, peaceful face buried in the fur of the cat balled against his chest, both asleep.

Or Bruce thought he was asleep. Again, always thinking the worst – had Damian passed away in his sleep? Was there an injury that they didn’t know about that might have caused internal damage, ruining any chance of saving him? No. No, he – he breathed, right there. Breathed in and out, and his cat purred, stretched his paw up to hold Damian’s cheek in reward for the action.

So…he was alive. He was asleep. He was right there. So why was his eldest brother having an emotional breakdown on his floor?

“He’s been in there for hours.” Bruce twitched and glanced to his side. Tim and Cassandra stood there in the shadow of the hallway, looking like twins from various horror movies. It was Tim who had spoken. “The crying is new, though. Before he was just staring at the wall.”

“And Damian?”

“Asleep just as long.” Tim explained. “No idea Dick’s even in there. Really think he’d be sleeping if he did?”

“Any idea what brought this on?”

Both Tim and Cassandra shrugged. “Didn’t even know Dick was in town until he showed up at the front door, and made a beeline for Damian’s room. He looked upset about something, but won’t say anything.”

“‘I’m fine.’ he says.” Cassandra murmured. “Smiles all…sad. Tells us not to let him bother us.”

“We’re checking on him every hour.” Tim promised. “Left him food and water and all that inside the door, but.” He glanced in the threshold. “Doesn’t look like he’s taken much.”

“Maybe you will have better luck.” Cassandra offered. “Call if you need help?”

“Of course.” Bruce muttered absently, glancing back into the room. He listened as his middle children continued on to whatever their original goal was, waited until he couldn’t hear them anymore, before silently opening the door.

He should have knocked, perhaps. But it wasn’t Dick’s room, and the room’s true occupant was asleep.

“Dick?”

Dick jerked and looked up, and the sight of Dick’s tearstained face was worse than hearing it.

But Dick’s face morphed instantly from utter anguish to embarrassment, and he immediately began wiping at his face.

“No, it’s…” Bruce stepped forward, hesitated, then continued on, kneeling in front of Dick. “It’s okay. You can cry if you need to.”

Dick sniffed, and looked away, down at the dog attempting to comfort him. “I don’t need to, though. I shouldn’t be.”

And that was as good of an opening as he was going to get. “What’s wrong?”

“Thinking.” Dick shook his head, snorted a hateful laugh aimed at himself. “Over-thinking. Thinking about things I shouldn’t be thinking about.”

“What do you mean?” Bruce glanced up when Damian shifted, but the cat was his guardian now. Struck up his purrs again, snuggled deeper into Damian’s neck, and kept him under the peaceful shroud of sleep.

“It’s…stupid. It wasn’t even real, but I can’t stop thinking about it.” Dick whispered. Shook his head again, then pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. “Bruce, do you know how much I love Damian?”

It was an odd question, a question Bruce wasn’t expecting. “…Of course. I…kind of think everyone does.”

“He’s saved my life. He saves my life every day, did you know that?”

“I never quite thought about it that way, but…sure, I suppose.” Then again: “Dick, what’s wrong? What happened?”

“I’d be a bad person.” Dick continued, as if Bruce had never spoken. “Bruce, without Damian I’d be a fucking terrible person.”

“You wouldn’t.” Bruce promised – because that was the only thing he did know, truly. Dick was a good person. No matter what, Dick was the best of all of them, and always would be. “Why do you think that?” After a moment. “Damian would yell at you, if he heard you talking like that.”

Another bitter chuckle. “I know. That’s why I came in here after he was asleep.”

They lapsed into silence. The loudest sound in the room was Damian’s breathing.

“This last bout with Dr. Hurt.” Dick finally started. “I…He made me see a vision, right after I found Damian. When I thought he was dead, I had this vision.”

Another moment of quiet. Dick’s tears kept falling, harder now at the memory.

“It was the future, and Damian was dead. Dead and gone and.” A small gasp. “…I became what Jason always wanted you to be. To avenge Damian’s death, I let the world go to shit so I could become a murderer. Tracking down those who killed him, and were in any way involved in his killing, and beating them until they were pulp. Until it could barely be believed that they existed as a human being at all.”

“…Dick, that wasn’t real. It was just a vision. A…a fever dream.” Bruce murmured. “The future is not set in stone, not for anyone. Visions are wrong. Visions aren’t real. Look at my own so-called visions about Damian in the future. About how he would destroy the world. Do you really think those are real?”

“No. No.” Dick sobbed. “But still. Bruce. There’s evidence. There’s evidence mine could be real.”

“Evidence?”

“When Damian’s involved, or…when the absence of Damian is involved, I get…violent. Stupid. Scary.” Dick whispered. “Our first mission together, all those years ago, when he ran off alone after Pyg, I was too violent with Pyg’s minions in attempts to get information to find him. When Talia took Damian to fix his spine after Flamingo, I was so restless I decided to try to resurrect you. The first time we fought Hurt, when he tried to convince Damian to join him, I got so scared I let myself get shot. When you took him to be your partner, I…I got lost. When he died protecting me, I…I wanted to die. Bruce, I wanted to kill. Anyone who crossed my path I beat to within an inch of their life, did you know that? Did you see that?”

Bruce had. Even in his own blinding grief during that time…he saw it.

“When Lincoln March tried to take him into the Court of Owls, when he put that bomb in his fucking face…I thought I was going to kill him.” Dick continued. “I was, Bruce. I was going to kill him. Had every intention to.” Another pause, and when he spoke again, he sounded scared. “And I was okay with that.”

More silence. Bruce heard Tim and Cassandra in the kitchen downstairs.

“I was okay with that.” Dick breathed. “For Damian, I was okay with killing March right there. And then this second time with Hurt…I could have…I-I would have…”

Dick turned as he trailed off, and stared heartbrokenly up to his little brother on the bed.

“The visions aren’t wrong.” Dick decided. “There’s evidence of it, Bruce, in real life. And that vision of life without Damian…it’s not wrong.”

Bruce watched. Wondered.

“If I lose him…” Dick suddenly looked back, buried his face back in his arms as if he were ashamed. “I can’t lose him, Bruce. I can’t lose Damian. I love him too much to lose him again.” Hesitation, to sniff. To shudder and dig his nails into his own arms. “And I’m scared of what I’ll become if I do.”

And Bruce could only look down at him, then up at Damian, then between them a few times. Amazing. It was amazing how life worked sometimes. Amazing how the most violent of them was the most vulnerable. How he had become, arguably, their most loved. The one none of them could live without. Not Bruce, not Dick. Not Jason or Cassandra or Tim either.

Amazing how his loss shattered them all so terribly, that they were still trying to recover, even though he had returned to them, pure and whole.

Amazing, because Damian had no earthly idea.

“…Dick.” Bruce tried weakly. “Dick, can you look at me?”

Dick shook his head like the terrified eight-year-old he once was. A boy who just wanted his parents back, and Bruce couldn’t give him that.

“Dick, it’s okay.” Bruce continued anyway, gently working his fingers under Dick’s to pluck the nails away from his skin. “Damian’s right here, okay? And he’s not going anywhere.”

Dick let Bruce take hold of his hand, cradling it tenderly between both of his.

“And I…” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I can’t promise you won’t – we won’t – lose him again, but. But we’ll do everything we can to keep him safe. I promise you that. I promise him that.”

But Bruce was a realist. And he’d lost his children too many times already to ever be hopeful about their fates anymore, no matter what they did.

“But. Even if we do. Even if we lose him again.” He squeezed Dick’s hand, and his eldest glanced timidly up at him. “You won’t become a monster because of that.”

“But-”

“I don’t care about your visions. I don’t care about your so-called ‘past evidence.’” Bruce shook his head to brush the notion off. “All that evidence proves is that you love him. That you love Damian as much as he deserves, and that’s wonderful. But I know you, Dick. And I know you could never turn into that, no matter how heartbroken you were.”

Dick shook his head back in disbelief.

“And even if you could, even if you could be that kind of monster, I still know you, and I know you can’t let things go. You can’t let people go. You let them live in your head, and guide your every action. I know you still look to your parents for advice when you’re stuck. Tim and the others told me how often you tried to emulate me when I was in the time stream.” Bruce smiled, despite it all. “Do you really think Damian’s memory would let you destroy yourself for him?”

Dick’s glance became a look then, and a faint smile graced his lips as well, eyes distant in memory. Bruce didn’t ask what that memory was, felt it wasn’t his place.

“He was Nightwing, in the vision.” Dick admitted anyway, softly. “Damian showed up at the end, and he was Nightwing. He was the reason I could get out of that vision, and come back to the real world.”

“See?” Bruce grinned, like a comedian whose joke was a hit with the crowd. “I told you.”

Without warning, there was shifting on the bed, and a grumbled: “Father?”

Dick immediately ducked lower, hiding completely. Wouldn’t have made a difference, Bruce found when he glanced up, as Damian’s eyes were only just now opening, and barely.

“Hello, son.” Bruce whispered.

“What are you doing in here?” Damian slurred, already giving in to Alfred’s needy paws, ducking his nose against his fur. “Who are you talking to?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dick twisting, dropping to his stomach and about to attempt to crawl around Titus and out of the room.

About being the key word.

“Your brother.” He hummed nonchalantly, grabbing Dick by the collar and yanking him up to a sitting position.

“My brother?” Damian’s eyes opened a little more, and instantly became concerned when his eyes landed on Dick. “Grayson? What are you doing in here?”

“I-”

“I brought him in here.” Bruce cut off. Dick and Damian both looked up at him in question. “Turns out Dick has a leg injury he didn’t tell us about. Nothing too serious I don’t think, but it definitely needs to be checked out.”

Damian frowned. “Grayson, what have I told you about-”

“Unfortunately, Dr. Pennyworth is in bed for the evening, and you know as well as I do that Dick is a big baby when it comes to getting injuries checked out and taken care of. He’ll try to run away if none of us keep an eye on him.” Bruce continued. “And I have some work to finish up. So, would you mind acting as his warden for me, until the doctor is available?”

“Of course.” Damian sighed, moving to sit up. Bruce immediately shook his head.

“No, no. No need to get up. Laying on him should be enough to weigh him down until morning.” Bruce explained, getting to his feet. With one hand, he continued to pull Dick up, and with the other, he tugged back Damian’s blankets. Damian shifted to the side immediately, watching as Bruce all but threw Dick onto the mattress next to him.

“I won’t lay on him. That’s absurd.” Damian yawned as Bruce tucked them both back in. Alfred purred happily between their pillows. As Bruce finished, Damian just rolled to his side, dropping his head onto Dick’s chest and flopping his arm across his torso. “But this should do.”

“Perfect.” Bruce smiled, first running his hand over both their heads, then kissing their foreheads, like they were both toddlers. “Thank you, Damian.”

Damian hummed a response, but was already drifting back to sleep. Bruce waited a moment, watched as Titus jumped onto the end of the bed, to curl up by their feet, before whispering: “See, Dick? He’s right here. You have him. He’s not going anywhere.”

Dick nodded silently, slipping an arm around Damian’s shoulders as he buried his nose in Damian’s hair.

“Get some rest.” Bruce asked. “And we can talk about this more tomorrow if you want. Or any time you want. Just come find me, okay?”

Dick nodded again. Sniffed. “Thanks, Bruce.”

Bruce smiled, and wiped an errant tear away from Dick’s cheek. “Don’t feel guilty for how much you love him, or how much he affects your life. That’s what sons do to fathers after all.” He said knowingly as he stood. “And don’t forget how much he loves you right back. It’d break his heart if he found out you were thinking this way on his account.”

“I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve him.” Dick started. “I don’t-”

“Shhh.” Bruce cut him off. Then repeated: “Just don’t forget how much he loves you right back.”

Dick didn’t answer this time, just tightened his hold on Damian’s shoulders. Satisfied, Bruce turned to leave, stopping only once to ask Titus:

“Keep an eye on him for me, okay?”

Titus chuffed lightly, tail wagging. Bruce nodded and left the room, softly closing the door behind him, leaving his sons to rest. Leaving Damian to heal a soul he didn’t even realize was broken.

Much like his eldest brother, he was very good at that.