Its nighttime and the Manor is mostly quiet, with Bruce, Oliver and a few others catching up on some much needed sleep. Jason was currently in bed, reading to Kill a Mocking Bird with headphones on his head listening to some classical music. All was currently well (in his eyes at least) and he was enjoying the small bit of peace and quiet right now. But alas, all good things most come to an end when he heard a knock on the door.
"Jason, its me, Dick." An overly cheery voice called out. One that made him want to stick a gun in his mouth and shoot himself.. "I know you're up. Alfred brought that piece of chocolate cake an hour ago." Jason looks over at his nightstand, where the plate was, covered in chocolate smudges, all that was left of the cake. He smirks at being able to eat pretty good piece despite his stomach being absolute shit. 'Thanks Joker' Jason mentally says to himself. Dick is still knocking and Jason was wants to crawl inside the covers and die. He is not ready for this. Not now or in a million years. But better to get out of the way than to prolong the suffering. "Can I come in? Please?"
"Fine" Jason says after a moment's hesitation. Dick opens the door and comes in. He enters cautiously and closes the door behind him.
"Hey, jay. How you holding up?" Dick asks and Jason wants to smack him right that second.
"Aside from the year long imprisonment, malnourish, thirst, and a million different scars and injuries, I'm doing great. " Jason says sarcastically and with venom in his voice, which makes Dick flinch. The latter pulls up a chair from Jason's desk and sits down. He has an apologetic look in his face but Jason really doesn't have the strength to care.
"Jason, I know that I wasn't a good brother …" He's cut off by Jason.
"We are not brothers. We're barely even co workers given you were either off world with the Titans or in Bludhaven fucking around with Starfire." Dick flinches at that last part. "The times you were here, you either ignored me or use me as a tool in you and Bruce's arguments." Jason spats out venomously.
"What about the times you were in Titans tower?" Dick asks hopefully but Jason's glare gives him the answer and he does not like it.
"Oh the place where everyone except Kory, Donna and Roy called me a pretender or when Wally told me I would never be as good as 'the pure and perfect Dick Grayson, the greatest Robin that ever was and ever will be.'." Jason snaps at him. Dick eyes widen at that last part.
"The fuck!?" Dick says, confusing Jason. "Wally told you what!? Jason, I swear to you, I had no idea."
"As if you would have cared."
"Of course I would. I'm you're brother..."
"Like I said before, we are not brothers. Get out Dick." Jason says.
"What?" "I said, Get the fuck out of my room!" Jason says loudly, though not enough to be considered screaming. Dick, knowing he won't listen right now, he leaves the room and closes the door behind him. When closes it, he sees Roy standing a few feet away from the door and by proxy, Dick.1
"You hear all of it?" Dick asks rhetorically
"Yup." Roy says unapologetically. His fake cheery voice is a stark contrast to his serious demeanor along with the look on his face. He motions Dick to walk with him and he obliges. The walk all the towards the Library, where they enter and Roy closes the door. He places the anti eavesdropping device on the main desk and activates it, giving them a bit of privacy. '
Roy turns around and punches Dick in the face, hard.
"The hell, Roy!?" Dick asks
"Tell me the truth, Dick. What did you do to that kid?" Roy answers coldly. The tone of his voice along with his body language screams 'Talk or else'
Dick sighed. It hadn't been his best moment or moments. He and Bruce were having a lot of arguments and it all got worse when Jason became Robin and resented Bruce for basically firing him and hiring another partner. He sat down in the chair and Roy followed suit.
"What do you want me to say? How I dragged him into me and Bruce's fights. Made him think he never deserved to be Robin or even be on the Titans. The others also treated him like shit and Wally even said that he would never be me." When Dick finished, Roy was appalled.
He never met Jason much due him having been dealing with his drug addiction through most of Jason's tenure as Robin, it got after Oliver supposedly died at Ra's hands. The stress had been getting him to him at the time, having to lie Thea, Laurel, John and Felicity (Thea pained him the most)., having to take up Oliver's mantle, and having the entire City on his back nearly broke him, so he started taking drugs in order to deal with the stress. When Oliver came back and found out, he hadn't kicked him out of the team like he thought he would but instead sent him to an overseas rehab for over a year and paid for everything. He then spent six months regaining his strength and skill and by the time he rejoined the Titans again, Jason had barely come to the Tower and when he was, Roy had to take care of Lian that day or week.2
"What the fuck, Dick? Who the fuck would do that to his little brother, his successor, a kid?" Roy says, never once treating Mia like that when she took up his old mantle, Speedy. Even trained the girl in archery and CQC when Oliver was off world.
"I know and look back at it, I realized how much of a mistake I made…"
"No Dick. A mistake is leaving the oven on or forgetting to get a present for someone's birthday. What you did was bullying Dick." Roy says, venom and disgust in in voice clear as ice. Roy runs a hand through his hair and breathes in and out, trying to calm himself down.
"Look I get it. Me and Oliver have had our issues over the years but I never dragged Mia into them and never treated her like she was a pretender and don't give me that voice that says you're sorry and to pity me, it's not going to work this time."
Dick flinches at the last part. While Wally was his best friend, Roy had been his equal in ways none of the other founding Titans ever where. They were both the first proteges and sons of 2 of the founding members of the Justice League who had had no powers and carved their path and place through sheer will and determination. They were their successors whenever they died or retired and both found companionship in that.
"Look, I'm not saying you had to have been brother of the year or something. God knows I was never was but I can't blame him for resenting you." Roy got up to leave and when he was halfway out through the door, he stopped and looked Dick.
"You want to fix this Dick? Be better but don't be surprised if Jason wants nothing to do with you now or ever." He closes the door and leaves Dick thinking.
So that was intense. Here are the notes:
1. I know some people are gonna slaughter me for this but I think this works better with the story and showcase Dick as a flawed human being. Plus, it gives Jason's anger some legitimacy, especially for Dick. Alfred doesn't get any cause nobody hates Alfred.
2.Yes, Roy went through his drug addiction like the comics but I tweaked a bit so it can fit the narrative and made Oliver less of a douchebag like in the comics. It is also another change I made to the events of Arrow season 3 as looking back on it, they really didn't give him an arc to go through. How the fuck can you not give arguably one of the 3 most important Characters of the Green Arrow mythos an arc to go through, especially when you had the perfect scenario to bring his drug addiction from the comics and into the show but you fucking don't and instead give him shit to do!? Some one please explain Marc Gugenheim and Wendy Mericle's minds during this, please? Please? I get that it would have been a bit too dark but Thea and Laurel had drug problems as well not to mention the show handled quite well Quentin's alcohol problems, so why not change it to that, giving Roy and Quentin something to bond over? They still get some leeway (not much but still a little) due Colton Hayes dealing with anxiety issues at the time and wanting to leave, thus making him a fugitive allowed him to leave the show but still have open the possibility of a return. And I have mentioned her but this is me confirming it, Lian exists in this universe. She may or may not appear in the story later on. Haven't decided on that one yet. Oh and I almost forgot, Mia exists as well but merely Oliver's ward like in the comics, not an Olicity love child.Hope you all enjoy. I appreciate any constructive criticism but will delete hate because fuck Olicity stans.
