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lady_bug_kayTitle: when life gives you lemons, juggle them
Author: ladybugkay
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: Bruce/Dick
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1570
Summary: Dick has always been easy to understand but hard to predict. Rules are actually very thin lines, but his mother was a tightrope-walker once and she taught him how to dance along them.
Disclaimer: DC Comics own Dick Grayson and his backstory. They also own Bruce Wayne and their sometimes co-dependent attachment to each other. I’m just borrowing them to explore their characters, and I make no money off my fics whatsoever. (Unfortunately).
A/N: This isn’t one of the fics I was planning to write for my version of Nano (an incentive for me to write more). No, this one is just a flash of thought that went through my mind and when I started to jot it down the rest of this rambling, probably chaotic, free-written mess of character analysis came out. Want to give it a read, anyway? (Also, I couldn’t come up with a good title for this one.)
Dick has always loved rules, almost as much as he loves using them to his advantage. There is so much that can be done within those rigid lines without ever once breaking them, though most people take the easy way out and simply step right over one they don’t like. Dick was always a good kid. He was following orders and schedules long before he moved into Wayne Manor, and he grew up there obeying other orders and adhering to a code with certain compulsory duties and responsibilities. He liked it. He still likes it, and he’s good at it. Give him an expectation and he’ll meet it, surpass it.
But he’ll do it his own way. Outline an objective for him, a goal, and he’ll meet it, accomplish it, but he’ll do it by covering every bit of space in that box that needs to be checked. He’s always been like that. He’ll colour everything, staying in all the lines, but he’ll probably make the sky purple and the sun black, the grass red and orange and the birds fluorescent pink with sunshine yellow wings. He follows orders and obeys commands flawlessly, but it’s not that he’s unable to think for himself, because he is. There’s just no need to break the rules because he sees all the space in between them, and it’s a kind of secret freedom most people never even know exists. Even though he’ll get from A to C, then, just as he’s told, he’s more likely to work backwards from Z instead of going through B to get there. That’s how he works.
So when Batman needed a partner, maybe he wasn’t expecting Robin – a brightly-coloured, laughing, joking, tumbling exhibitionist, but he didn’t tell Dick he couldn’t be that way, only that he needed someone to work with him. And Robin worked with Batman; he worked with him well. Some people might argue that Tim’s interpretation of Robin worked with him more efficiently, and certain others might even suggest Jason’s version of the role was more indispensable, but deep down inside, where Bruce can’t hide it and can’t tell evasive half-truths in order not to hurt anyone, he knows Dick’s Robin suited him most and worked with him best. Dick created Robin, was born Robin, and all the other incarnations of him are just that: incarnations. Not copies, not substitutes or imitators, but alternate versions of the original, and as good as they were, as good as they are, there’s a reason first editions are so valuable and rare. Dick’s Robin wasn’t at all what Bruce had expected, but very quickly their teamwork became legendary enough to earn them the moniker of the Dynamic Duo, and no one can deny how good a partner Dick was.
And when Dick struck out on his own, creating yet another identity for rooftops and dark nights, maybe the one he ended up with is ultimately something more suited to the shadows – less eye-catching, less obvious – but he got there only after donning an Elvis collar and boasting a bright yellow design crossing over the blue, and his new suit is still tight enough to let him show off everything he can do while simultaneously displaying every inch of body he has sculpted over the years.
Even though he gets the same results, reaches the same conclusions, Dick doesn’t do things the way other people do them. Give him a destination and he’ll get there, but he’d much rather travel tumbling through the air and make a grand entrance when he arrives. He’s a showman – was quite literally born in the center ring, as a matter of fact – and regardless of what he does or how his life changes, that will always be the case.
But he likes it best when there’s a limit, even more if it’s an unreasonable or impossible one. Within that constraint he’s at his most creative, his most skilled, and he will accomplish things other people won’t even when they have no concept of limitations. It’s the way he works, the way things work for him, and maybe it’s because of his childhood, because of what his parents did and then because of how he was raised, but so what? He’s not some mindless automaton capable only of following a prescribed line of coding or programming. Within four walls, he’s still wildly innovative. He’ll never do something the same way twice, never walk when he can dance, never duck when he can roll, never turn when he can flip, and while he can always be trusted, be depended upon, he will never be predictable.
In fact, he’s the very definition of thinking outside the box, even if he stays inside one, and he’ll make more use of every inch of space within that box than the rest of the world will with the entire planet at their disposal and two lifetimes to dispose of it.
A constant variable, constantly changing with each equation in which he’s involved, Dick is x. Solve for the value of him and get a different answer every time, but he’s still the same person.
He’s Dick, and he is like no one else.
And if he and Bruce end up together only after many years during which Dick left town and Bruce presented him with adoption papers (and they both had countless doomed relationships with women), the point is that they end up together and they’re happy. People say it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey, but Dick has never been like other people. For Dick, it’s always been about the journey and the destination.
Though, it’s always been about Bruce either way.
Dick is what his life has made him, but he’s smart enough to know that it’s what he chooses to do with what he is that is more important, and after a lot of years, Dick’s finally managed to convince Bruce of that fact, too. So he doesn’t care how or why he loves Bruce or whether it is or isn’t right, because A leads to C, like Dick loves Bruce, and maybe he bypassed filial love and came around from the other direction to arrive at romantic love, but it’s still love and it’s still forever, and it’s still the most important truth in his life.
Maybe it’s because there is no one else like Dick that he is the only person with whom Bruce can truly be happy. Maybe Aristophanes had it right, because they fit like two halves of the same whole, all their jagged edges lining up. Dick is happiest and at his best and brightest working within (or dancing around) clearly established rules; and Bruce is happiest and at his finest and most brilliant arranging everything so that it adheres to the parameters he defines and enforces. Call it yin and yang, call it opposites attracting, call it the immovable object meets the irresistible force; call it a lock and a key, call it that certain je ne sais quoi, call it destiny or fate or chance or luck. Call it the x-factor.
Call it love.
It is what it is because they are who they are, because Dick is who he is. Set a bar, and he’ll fly over it. Introduce him to a locked space, and he’ll stretch to touch and fill every bit of it. Show Dick a shadow to see what he’ll do with it, and he’ll keep it safe and work with it by being the light that casts it – and thus, of necessity, stays always next to it. Give him Bruce Wayne, and he’ll love him for life, but he’ll want him in his bed, too. And in the Cave. And in the Batmobile. And in the kitchen, and in an alley, and in a hidden alcove at a formal function. And on a rooftop at night in full uniform. And…
Not what you expected, right? Put a boy in a cave and you think he’ll learn how to hide, how to slink about unseen and discover all the secrets and dark places. And he did. But bats aren’t that frightening when you actually take the time to learn about them, and a cave isn’t merely walls and floor and ceiling, with stalagmites rising up and stalactites hanging down. A cave has a hell of a lot of space to move around in, and if you’re agile enough, you can even fly without needing wings. He’s still a boy in a cave, but there’s really a great deal you can do in a cave, if you stop to think about it. Not that Dick has to think about it, but the point is, he does it all, everything he can imagine, and it’s not his fault other people never see the empty space around black lines and solid edicts.
Tell him it can never be and he’ll prove you wrong. He’ll get the job done even though you have no idea how he does it, he’ll give you a hundred and fifty percent, and he’ll take you up on everything you didn’t even know you were offering. Just ask Bruce.
He uses every inch of room he’s allowed, however literal or metaphorical the space may be, and he does it every time, and he knows it’s not that complicated, really, because it’s very simple in his head:
Life's just more interesting that way.
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Date: 2009-11-02 12:44 am (UTC)2 bad the writers dont understand this...ironic, huh?
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Date: 2009-11-02 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-02 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-02 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-02 01:10 am (UTC)Beatz
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Date: 2009-11-02 01:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-02 01:27 am (UTC)That's a wonderful interpretation of a boy and man who works within the lines but fills the space with sparkling color and will use intuitive insight to get from A to C through Z. :)
He’ll colour everything, staying in all the lines, but he’ll probably make the sky purple and the sun black, the grass red and orange and the birds fluorescent pink with sunshine yellow wings.
This made me giggle! :)
I really, truly, honest-to-goodness believe Dick Grayson is the single greatest creation of DC Comics.
*joins with you in the chorus* :)
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Date: 2009-11-02 01:35 am (UTC)And I'm so happy Dick's colour sense made you laugh, because you know that had to come up somehow.
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Date: 2009-11-02 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-02 01:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-02 02:00 am (UTC)I've long thought he was the most complete character to ever come out of the DC universe.
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Date: 2009-11-02 04:15 am (UTC)This. Yes, this. He's one of my very favourite characters ever. In any kind of fiction.
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Date: 2009-11-02 06:01 am (UTC)You've certainly captured the essence of his character, and I agree with you when you say he's "the single greatest creation of DC comics." A shame DC can't see what a treasure it has.
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Date: 2009-11-02 11:01 am (UTC)Yes, that's certainly Dick, and that's definitely part of the impression I was going for with this one. I'm so happy it came across.
Nanowrimo banes me so.
Date: 2009-11-02 10:58 pm (UTC)I don't think I'll ever walk again, my swooning at your wonderful work is just too much. It's worth it though... I mean, wow.
Dick Grayson truly is the shining star of DC, and you've just painted him a night sky.
I love you... Just to let you know.
Ps: best last words since
'I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.'
Re: Nanowrimo banes me so.
Date: 2009-11-03 02:56 am (UTC)Dick Grayson truly is the shining star of DC, and you've just painted him a night sky.
I think that's possibly my very favourite piece of feedback ever. It's so beautiful and evocative...and so complimentary. ;)
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Date: 2009-11-04 08:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-04 11:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-05 12:52 am (UTC)Dick is such a wonderful contradiction. He's inherently free, yet he plays by a distinct set of rules. He's expressive and loving, and yet so damned repressed when it comes to his feelings for Bruce. He's confident and devil-may-care, and yet he has the self-esteem of a mushroom. He's beautiful and adored, yet he's endlessly needy and greedy for people to love him.
Oh, Dick. How I love you so. You are the one character I will never, ever tire of writing. MWAH!
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Date: 2009-11-06 06:47 am (UTC)I love everything you write.
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Date: 2009-11-07 02:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-28 01:27 am (UTC)*applauds*
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Date: 2009-11-29 03:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-26 01:35 am (UTC)Funny how so much time and effort on various writers' part, professional and fannish, go into denying what is so clearly true: Bruce and Dick ~fit each other, in a way that no one else does, with either of them.
Now if the comics would just stop screwing with Dick's characterzation, and let him be the golden, loving-hearted hero that he is, well. That would be nice. D:
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Date: 2010-11-26 03:06 am (UTC)Yes. Absolutely. It gets extremely frustrating when so many writers seem not to know what to do with Dick Grayson. The single greatest character DC has ever created...and they don't have a clue how to handle him. Aarrrggh!
And yes, I also agree that Robin's history and legacy is at least and significant and fraught as Batman's. Yet ask anyone not familiar with the vagaries of canon, ask someone wholly unfamiliar with comics, ask someone who doesn't know the continuity who Robin is, and they will tell you Dick Grayson. He is Robin.
And Batman doesn't just need a Robin. He needs Robin.
*steps down off soapbox now* ;)
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Date: 2010-11-27 01:37 am (UTC)Instead of creating interesting characters for their own sake, and finding realistic ways to work them in so they fit in the story.
IMO
~climbs off own soapbox
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Date: 2010-11-27 07:00 am (UTC)*slaps them for that*