[Tom's still having trouble meeting Dick's eyes.] We do a lot of benefit shows. In fact, our major investor is the Martha Wayne charity. It's not saving lives, but...
I thought I was the lucky one. I still do. Even if it means I'm not out there saving lives.
It is. MW saves *thousands* of kids around the country every year. Kids who'd be washed up in gutters, or locked up in jail, or back in abusive care, or selling themselves... You know, the stuff Bruce does on the streets is important, but what he's done with his money is probably *more* important - barring, like, huge epic space invasions and natural disasters. Even then, when the quake hit Gotham, it was WE's building standards that saved more lives than anything else.
[Dick smiles] You are lucky. We both are. We get to do things we love to do, help people, and do it with the people we love. Assuming you love your brother... [Dick laughs] I don't know, maybe Tim would think I was pretty terrible if he actually had to share a trailer with me...
[Tom knows you're just trying to make him feel better, but it's working anyway. He smiles a bit at you.] I guess you're right.
[Quietly.] I do love him. [He blushes a little, because they haven't just shared a trailer, they've been sharing a *bed* for years. But he knows how that would sound if he said it.] I don't mind. Dick is...he's the best thing that ever happened to me.
[Dick sees the blush, but for once he doesn't tease.] I'm pretty fond of my Tim... He...brought me back to my family. I don't know what it would have taken to make me finally go home, if Tim hadn't knocked on my door.
[Dick gives Tom a squeeze] The fairgrounds should be just past those buildings...
Back to your...family? [Tom is confused.] You ran away? [Why would Dick run away from the circus? He loved the circus!]
[Tom smiles a little at the squeeze and increases his pace in his eagerness. They round the corner to find a fully set-up big top. There are no people, no animal or trailers, but all the lights are on and the rigging is fully set up, including the trapezes and net.]
Well, would you look at that...I didn't actually think it would work.
Not Mom and Dad. Batman. Gotham. We'd had a fight, and I'd moved to New York, and Bruce being Bruce he never came after me or tried to apologize or anything. Me being me, I assumed that meant he was glad I was gone. Alfred being Alfred, he mostly stayed out of it, except for probably giving Bruce the stinkeye a lot, and sending me care packages with little notes about how much he'd love it if I visited. [Dick sighs, remembering]. Tim came to bring me home. Bruce and I didn't settle our stuff for kind of a while, but at least we were talking again - and coming to visit Tim, help him train to be Robin, got me back into Gotham more often.
Hahah! No way! [Dick lets go of Tom in his excitement, and breaks into a fast jog.]
Oh! Oh...I see. Well, I'm glad he was able to help you. [It's kind of weird to think that this Dick has another Tom - another him. He'd known, of course, that this wasn't his Dick, but somehow the fact that he would have a counterpart of himself hadn't quite sunk in.]
[Tom grins and joins him, upping the pace until their both racing toward the lighted big top, laughing.]
[The main lights are on, but the spots and accessory stage lights are off. The tent looks, more than anything, like it's set up for a practice run. This suits Dick just fine, and he strips out of his mask - it's not like Tom doesn't know who he is - and gloves and boots before jogging out into the main arena. The sawdust feels and smells fantastic under his feet, and he quickly locates the chalk bucket under the main ladder.]
This is so exciting... [He laughs at himself] Should we fire up the calliope?
Sure. [He grins at Dick and climbs up to where the tubes of the calliope sit. Moments later loud, cheerful music begins to fill the space. Tom climbs down again and crosses to a spot under the ladder. He rosins up his hands and casually begins to climb, the lights glittering off his sequins. He's like a different person under the stage lights, and throws a laughing, challenging look at Dick.]
[Dick grins back and scrambles for the opposite platform, climbing just as quickly as Tom. The sights and smells and sounds are all bringing him back to one of the happiest times of his life. When he gets to the top he stops, panting slightly, and looks across at Tom.]
[Tom's a little nervous for Dick - if he's really out of practice, they should stick to easy tricks. Dick's the most natural acrobat he's ever known, and he's obviously in fantastic shape, but tricks like theirs require incredible amount of practice.]
[Taking hold of the trapeze, he leaps off the platform, feeling the arc, easy and slow.]
[Tim grins at the double-entendre. They shouldn't do this, not with Dick so out of practice, but...It's Dick.]
You'd better be the catcher. [He swings around, catching ahold of a rope and letting go of the trapeze to clamber up to the platform again. He can feel Dick doing the same thing on the other side, feel the sense of timing, like clockwork, in his blood. They've done this a million times. But somehow his heart is pounding with excitement. This isn't *his* Dick.]
[He leaps off the platform, angling his body to go faster this time, and he can feel the moment when Dick swings down, hanging by his knees. Tim's only going for a single somersault - he can do a quadruple, but he's not suicidal. He flings himself into the air, the world spinning, arms outstretched...]
[There's the sharp slap of skin meeting skin, and Dick's hands lock around his arms. Tim can't help it. He laughs.]
I have typed this twice and lj has eaten it both times. youlikethedickApril 13 2011, 00:36:48 UTC
[Dick laughs, too, holding tight as he swings back, using Tom's weight to build momentum, and then forward again. He can feel the shift in muscle tension and weight distribution and knows Tom is ready, so he flings him up, back toward his own bar, which is swinging back toward them.]
That's fantastic. Bruce used to fling me around some, when I begged, but I haven't caught for anybody in ages. [Dick feels lighter than air. He grabs the bar with his hands and flips, then shifts his grip and pulls himself up into a pike, swinging back toward Tom on the rebound. Tom is Tim, which is a huge help toward reading his body - but overlaid on top of that is language Dick knows equally well. Tom moves....a little like him. A little like his mom, which really shouldn't be as cool as it is, considering how attractive he finds Tom.]
[Tom flips around in midair to catch the other bar. His hands wrap around the familiar wood, and he swings himself into a pike, a mirror-image of Dick's position. They're going to lose momentum soon, but they have enough for one more trick. He calls out.]
Switch!
[Then he flings himself forward off his bar at exactly the same moment Dick does, so that each of them can grab the others' trapeze. He can hear Dick's joyful laugh echoing through the big top, and it's not as though he hasn't heard it before...he hears it every day. But somehow, this is different. This Dick doesn't *have* this anymore, and he may talk about his 'other life' all he wants, but Tom *knows* he misses this. He feels like he's giving Dick a *gift*...in a way, like he's giving back the gift Dick gave him, so long ago.]
[Tom's in costume, complete with sequins and a towel around the back of his neck - he just came from a dress rehearsal.]
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I thought I was the lucky one. I still do. Even if it means I'm not out there saving lives.
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[Dick smiles] You are lucky. We both are. We get to do things we love to do, help people, and do it with the people we love. Assuming you love your brother... [Dick laughs] I don't know, maybe Tim would think I was pretty terrible if he actually had to share a trailer with me...
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[Quietly.] I do love him. [He blushes a little, because they haven't just shared a trailer, they've been sharing a *bed* for years. But he knows how that would sound if he said it.] I don't mind. Dick is...he's the best thing that ever happened to me.
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[Dick gives Tom a squeeze] The fairgrounds should be just past those buildings...
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[Tom smiles a little at the squeeze and increases his pace in his eagerness. They round the corner to find a fully set-up big top. There are no people, no animal or trailers, but all the lights are on and the rigging is fully set up, including the trapezes and net.]
Well, would you look at that...I didn't actually think it would work.
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Hahah! No way! [Dick lets go of Tom in his excitement, and breaks into a fast jog.]
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[Tom grins and joins him, upping the pace until their both racing toward the lighted big top, laughing.]
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This is so exciting... [He laughs at himself] Should we fire up the calliope?
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[Taking hold of the trapeze, he leaps off the platform, feeling the arc, easy and slow.]
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[He has to raise his voice to be sure it will reach Tim, between the distance and the music of the calliope below.] You pitching or catching?
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You'd better be the catcher. [He swings around, catching ahold of a rope and letting go of the trapeze to clamber up to the platform again. He can feel Dick doing the same thing on the other side, feel the sense of timing, like clockwork, in his blood. They've done this a million times. But somehow his heart is pounding with excitement. This isn't *his* Dick.]
[He leaps off the platform, angling his body to go faster this time, and he can feel the moment when Dick swings down, hanging by his knees. Tim's only going for a single somersault - he can do a quadruple, but he's not suicidal. He flings himself into the air, the world spinning, arms outstretched...]
[There's the sharp slap of skin meeting skin, and Dick's hands lock around his arms. Tim can't help it. He laughs.]
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That's fantastic. Bruce used to fling me around some, when I begged, but I haven't caught for anybody in ages. [Dick feels lighter than air. He grabs the bar with his hands and flips, then shifts his grip and pulls himself up into a pike, swinging back toward Tom on the rebound. Tom is Tim, which is a huge help toward reading his body - but overlaid on top of that is language Dick knows equally well. Tom moves....a little like him. A little like his mom, which really shouldn't be as cool as it is, considering how attractive he finds Tom.]
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Switch!
[Then he flings himself forward off his bar at exactly the same moment Dick does, so that each of them can grab the others' trapeze. He can hear Dick's joyful laugh echoing through the big top, and it's not as though he hasn't heard it before...he hears it every day. But somehow, this is different. This Dick doesn't *have* this anymore, and he may talk about his 'other life' all he wants, but Tom *knows* he misses this. He feels like he's giving Dick a *gift*...in a way, like he's giving back the gift Dick gave him, so long ago.]
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