"You know I envy you?" He winced as he inched himself further up the cement wall behind him.
The usual joking manner wasn't there despite his tone. The younger of the two would get his point because he was smart. He looked across from him and saw a face similar to his own, masked in a black cowl with eyes concealed and mouth set in determination to move.
"You envy me? Why?" The younger man asks incredulously as he leans forward to relieve the tension in his back.
"Aside from the less lame Robin outfit? Lots of reasons."
Dick Grayson grinned as he spit blood off to the side. He groaned and pushed his feet under him to use the wall to balance and stand. It had been a rough night and it wasn't getting any better.
"I remember feeling betrayed when he brought Jason in. It was fast and I hadn't been gone long. Here was this smartass twerp trying to not only take my position but also claiming he'd do better. I know now he was big talk to cover up some fear but it didn't matter at the time."
"What does envying me have to do with Jason?" Tim held his side as he shoved a shoulder into the wall and pushed up to stand beside his partner and adoptive brother.
"I've always been the one…I always prided myself in knowing Batman better than anyone. Even himself sometimes. I didn't like the idea of someone else being able to say that. Jason was just potentially a threat to my ego but….you're the realization."
Dick sighed as he tore off his tattered cape and tossed it aside in the alley. He still hated the damn thing but it felt worse not having it. It was part of the whole spectacle.
Tim was caught off guard for a moment and with his injuries and everything that had happened even he needed a moment to slump back against the cool, eerily comforting, bricks of the walls surrounding them in the dark.
"You think I know him better?"
"No, I think you know him as well. But I do think you…understand him better." Dick huffed as he rolled his elbows then his shoulders. He needed to work some of the kinks out.
"Because we're both such great conversationalists and love sharing our emotions?" Tim breathed as he wiped blood from his lip and inspected a tear in his costume on his upper arm.
"Exactly." Dick grinned and clapped the younger on the shoulder. "I'm the weirdo talkative one. I stick out like a sore thumb."
"You're a carnie what do you expect?" Tim teased as he moved to retrieve his staff.
"I'm just saying it's hard to realize you're not the only one who changes. I didn't just grow up and leave. Everything changed, so did he. I can't want something new but stick to the old."
"You can't want respect and not give it right?" Tim added.
"Hey, I've always respected you. That was never a problem."
"Yeah, that's how we got into all this mess." Tim looked around at all the garbage and the busted up dumpster.
"You know you're going to be the one to explain to Alfred what happened to my cape right? He finally had it just right and you trashed it."
"Oh no, you're going to explain to him why we're all beat up but all was quiet tonight."
"All was quiet?" Dick questioned amusedly.
"Its all relative." Tim replied. "Now about Alfred…"
"Last one there does it." Dick grinned as he signaled for the Batmobile to pick him up.
"You're on." Tim pressed a button on his belt to call for his bike.
"Would it even be worth coming up with a cover story?" Tim thought aloud a second later.
"What do you think?"
They both shook their heads and disregarded the idea. Alfred would know or at least surmise what had happened. Two brothers who loved and cared about each other who had been under intense stress and overwhelmed by grief had simply beat the crap out of each other.
As the vehicles hummed in arrival both men looked at each other. Tim looked at his bike as Dick looked above to the sky. It had been a long night for both of them. Even the closest of friends, the dearest of people had some falling-outs. Dick and Tim had just had enough and needed to vent. Their methods hadn't been exactly genius but it was in the heat of the moment.
"It isn't really a secret I've always envied you. We've talked about this before. You were the first, the original, the ideal. I use to get this sick sense of relief that I hadn't come right after you. Sure, it was tough coming after Jason with all the strain and guilt Batman felt but that was nothing compared to what Jason dealt with. It was years ago but like you said it didn't matter then. How I felt then is how I felt."
"Good therapy session, Red Robin, good session." Dick, current Batman and original Robin/Nightwing moved towards his car.
"But I wasn't the ideal. I was just the first one involved. In some ways I think you're more the ideal than I ever was. I had my own opinions on how things should be done."
"And I don't?" Tim interrupted.
"You know what I mean. You two saw eye to eye more. I was who I was and he is…you know." Dick gritted his teeth. He wasn't delusional, Bruce Wayne was dead, but he and Tim disagreed on that and they had already had it out once tonight.
"Yeah you're so different Batman." Tim grinned as he swung a leg over his bike and sat down.
"Yeah." Dick had to laugh at that. "We are."