Fic: Déjà vu
Title: Déjà vu
Fandom: DC
Characters: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson
A/N: AU, sort of. Possibly connected to a longer storyline that’s emerging in my head.
Yup; more productive results of studying for my last final.
Summary: Dick stared at the dark haired boy working the tires off his car with a sense of bemusement and overwhelming déjà vu.
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Dick stared at the dark haired boy working the tires off his car with a sense of bemusement and overwhelming déjà vu. The boy shifted, and Dick saw the small shock of white hair sprouted at his forehead.
No. Way.
There was no way that he was right in front of Dick. No way it was that easy.
He stepped up behind the kid on Nightwing’s feet and stood there until the boy turned, rolling the first tire, grinning triumphantly. Dick snatched it out of his hands.
“Hey!” The kid raged, sticking his chin out aggressively. “I boosted that fair and-“
He trailed off as he got a good look at Dick standing in front of him, dangling the car’s keys in the hand that wasn’t holding the tire.
“Oh shit!” Jason moaned and turned to flee.
Dick dropped the tire, ignoring it as it bounced away. There was no way he was letting his little brother out of his sight now that he’d finally caught him.
He’d wait until later to go into a fit of hysterical laughter over finding Jason the same damn way Bruce did.
After he caught him.
He followed the kid, watching him twist and turn and duck and leap; avoiding obstacles and barriers and displaying a thorough knowledge of the area which would have allowed him to neatly lose Dick. If the older man hadn’t cut his superhero teeth in this neighbourhood and others like it, that is.
He wondered if the swelling admiration for the shear raw talent the boy possessed was the same thing Bruce had felt when he’d cornered this boy in another life.
He wasn’t acrobatic in the same way that Dick was; didn’t perform the leaps with the same dramatic flair that Bruce had never been able to train out of the circus-brat completely. He did, however, show a flair for on the spot tactical planning. Not the long range, strategic planning the Tim had been so good at, but the moment-by-moment stuff. He proved it by trying several clever manoeuvres, sometimes even changing tact mid leap, whenever he saw that a particular move wasn’t working.
Dick could almost see the shift in Jason’s behaviour as he mentally re-categorised the older man from annoyance to challenge to threat.
Finally, seeing the growing desperation in Jason (though he hid it well, and only someone who knew him as well as his older brother did would have seen it) Dick veered left, swarming up a fire escape and diving into a flip that had him landing in front of the other boy, too close for him to change direction.
Jason bounced off Dick’s chest. The impact sent the man rocking just slightly, but almost rebounded the younger boy into the ground.
Dick caught his arms, blocking the blow that the other tried to throw, and swept appraising eyes over his brother.
He was…thin. Not frail - Jason had too solid a build to ever be considered frail - but thin in a way dick had never seen him. The first time Dick had met his little brother had been after a couple of months of Alfred’s feeding to build him up; after he’d gained a little more of the build his genetics promised him, provided the right nutrition to back it up.
Every instinct in Dick was telling him to wrap his little brother up in a tight hug and not let go until the fearful, wary look left his eyes. Then take him home, feed him, give him a shower and some new clothes, and never let him out of his sight again.
Well, the first and the last were out of the question at the moment, but he might be able to work in the middle three at least for the moment.
For starters, he’d just have to work on easing the bravado laced panic which was drowning his brother’s eyes.
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Now with bonus sequel! Don't Talk to Strangers.