[Flashpoint/DCnU fic] Falling Back
Falling Back Rating: PG at best
Characters: Father Jason Todd, Dick Grayson ( Nightwing Batman Nightwing )
Summary: The universes are collapsing and falling in on each other and sometimes strange meetings happen.
Notes: So I wrote the first half of this after taking a sleeping pill, because I had to get up at 3 am for work and I ended up making myself cry. Then I went back and finished it. Because Jason Todd is a priest in Flashpoint and yes, this is going to become A Thing for me.
The first two lines are shamelessly ripped from The Sandman.
“I hurt.”
“It’s okay, I hurt too.”
The world shifts and realigns and it’s just another drop in the bucket. Another moment in time that will be lost soon.
“I feel like I’m going to shatter. Like I’m going to break into a million pieces and just fall away into nothing. And no one will remember what I was before I broke. No one will miss the person I was.”
There’s a hand on his shoulder, pushing him upright. The hand is large and strong and he can imagine he feels the heat through the suit.
“Come on, now. You’re stronger than this.”
Dick looks at him and he can feel the tears on his face. The man just smiles a sad sort of smile and fishes a neatly folded handkerchief out from under his vestments. “Hey, it’ll be all right. There’s a bigger plan at work here. And...”
His smile is warm and serene in a way that Jay’s never was. Never had the chance to be. His voice was the same, but without the hard bitter edge Dick had become so accustomed to. Father Todd smiles and wipes the tears off Dick’s face and says, “If you can’t have faith in that, then at least have faith in the people who love you. They won’t forget and they won’t let you fall.”
Dick shakes his head, tries to shake off the warm, strong alive hands holding him. “That’s not true. That’s a lie. This is a lie.”
Father Todd’s- Jay’s face tightens for one heartbreaking moment, turns to something sharper and familiar. In that moment, Dick’s not sure if he wants to scream at the injustice of the multiverse or cradle this impossible, beautiful man and protect him from the horrors of this world. Of his world. Not their world, never their world. Because Jay never got this. Never had this inner peace and this... He doesn’t know, can’t name it when the sharpness turns to something else, something impossibly stronger.
“I know. But it’s all right. I’m here and I won’t forget.”
And I won’t let you fall. It’s not said, but it hangs in the air between them. And Dick thinks maybe it is okay. At least for now. He lets his head drop onto Jason’s shoulder. Jason doesn’t even stiffen, just puts his arms around Dick.
“I’m sorry,” Dick says.
“Don’t be.”
“This has to be weird for you. Some guy just falls into your church and starts babbling crazy things.” Dick moves his head enough to rub at his wet cheeks.
Jason- Father Todd only smiles. “Well, this is Gotham, after all.”