Pairings: bahahahaha nice try
Characters:Richard Grayson, Damian Wayne, Jason Todd
Rating: T (or PG-13) for attitude issues, a bit of language, the threat of violence…This IS the Batboys we're talking about.
Notes/Warnings: possible OOC-ness , language...angst, if you squint.
Summary: Sometimes Dick's less noticeable habits are the ones that hold the most meaning, as Damian comes to learn at unlikely hands.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, none of the Batfam is mine, no matter how nicely I've asked. *sigh* Ah, and the wonderful cover art for this story is not mine, tis the tremendous loveliness of kyuura_jii, a fantastic pic called 'Living Like Kings'.
Aaaaaaannnnnd... GO!
Damian glowered. Stupid Grayson and his time-wasting – Drake was supposed to be the Robin with OCD. But there he was, still checking Damian's grappling line, meticulously going over every inch with a single-minded focus completely unlike Nightwing.
He was obsessed. Had to be. No one else went over the lines like he did. It was a quirk that one would only fully realize if they'd been stuck with Grayson as much (and as often) as Damian had. Although Nightwing was usually a solitary figure, Dick made the obvious exception when he'd taken up the cowl. Being Robin to a substitute Batman wasn't a situation any of the Bat Clan had faced before, and thus Damian had become acquainted with many of Richard's more subtle quirks while they worked together.
And as such the youngest Wayne had realized that his eldest adoptive sibling had issues when it came to checking the frequently-used equipment upon which their lives often relied. While everything had to be checked over to Bruce-Batman standards, Richard went back and checked and triple checked grapples like Santa going over his list on Christmas Eve: obsessively. Each repetitive review made Robin's teeth grind harder together in annoyance.
He was going to need serious dental work if this kept up. 'Dammit….'
"Grayson! Why do you insist on doing this? Do you believe me to be incompetent?" Damian spat at Richard's back, watching as his grapple was slowly placed back on the work bench. Dick turned, head cocked to one side and lips upturned in a subdued smile as he considered his youngest sibling.
With a muttered "Sorry, Little D," Nightwing quietly ruffled his Robin's hair and ghosted out of the Batcave and up to the Manor above, leaving a fuming and highly confused Baby Bat behind.
"You really have no idea, kid." Red Hood's voice drifted over from where he was tinkering with his bike, startling Damian from his baffled state back to a ready state of irritation. Smeared with grease and not bothering to move away from his pet project, Jason glanced casually at the Replacement's replacement. "Wing's been doing that for years. The Pretender caught him freakin' out over the lines on security cameras. Bruce didn't seem all too surprised about it either, when it was mentioned to him. Apparently it's just one of Dickie's operating patterns."
It wouldn't be the only habit that Nightwing apparently had, once one had been around long enough to look for them. Along with a penchant for making bad puns, the fact that he could reliably have absolutely nothing of nutritional value in that hell-hole he called an apartment in Bludhaven, poor fashion taste, an apparent affinity for redheads, and the horrible predisposition for nickname-giving, Grayson had his fair share of Bat-like habits. While not quite as blatantly paranoid as the rest of the former Robins and their eternally-brooding mentor, Dick picked up on or monitored far more than he'd ever admit to.
"Wanna know my theory?" Carefully tightening a bolt, Jason swiped a forearm across his already grime-streaked forehead and turned to look fully at the child glowering mightily in his general direction, before continuing with a slight huff. "My theory, cat-boy, is that he's terrified."
Damian snorted, not buying the deranged former Robin's excuse for an explanation. "Of what, exactly? Grayson knows perfectly well that all of our equipment is built and regularly inspected to Father's standards."
Grave eyes bored holes into him when he looked back at Jason, and the elder's voice held something akin to sorrow when he murmured "All of the equipment Dick's parents used was built and regularly inspected to somebody's standards, too, kid."
AN:
So there ya have it. Jay didn't wanna be the one thrown under the bus in this chapter, so delegation graciously handed the duty over to Dami. He seems mightily unamused. Oh well, they both learned a little something more about lovable big brother, no?