Whatās one thing/skill that you think Dick is insanely bad at? I know a lot of people think heās a bad cook/baker but I think heās probably a good one considering heās been pretty independent since he was a teenager. I also think heād be good at sewing and knitting but Iām not really sure what he would be bad at. Maybe like pottery or something? Or maybe he thinks he can play the piano or something really well but he canāt.
Wait actually I think it would be funny if he tried to start like an ASMR youtube channel but was just absolutely terrible at it because he has trouble discerning what noises and stuff normal people would find calming and also Gotham and Blud are LOUD cities so thereās always background noise. Maybe he just starts talking about random shit that he likes and everyone is like āwow he has such a nice voice BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS HE TALKING ABOUT??ā
Idk tho I canāt really think of many things that heās bad at in canon. Besides like healthy communication and not being suicidal, I think heās good or at least mediocre at most things.
For cooking and cleaning, he was shown to be quite good at both during Prodigal, since he had to take care of the manor and Tim* while Alfred was gone. They had a few cute exchanges over it, which were enjoyable.
Seeing as healthy communication is off the table, I think he'd be terrible at remembering things/keeping to a schedule. At any given time, he has his vigilante pursuits in Bludhaven, the Titans (plus whatever else he's heading), whatever he's being called over to Gotham to handle, at least one younger sibling related disaster (the inciting problem to many a good annual/tie-in), the Justice League might be calling him in case everyone died again (again again). He probably also has a job, if we're letting this take place at some nebulous point in continuity rather than during his specific unemployed bum arc right now. Dick is busy.
If we also assume there are still lingering cognitive effects of the gunshot as described in the Ric Grayson arc, where he was shown to black out at points or have no memory of the last minutes to hours to days -- not that it would be this severe anymore, but I could imagine some more subtle long-term problems with memory -- there is no way Dick is remembering anything not imminent-death or weight-of-the-world related. You schedule a meeting with him and he does not show up. He forgets to go to reunions, to planned outings with friends, to celebrations.
Sometimes it's because he overbooked himself on accident and simply prioritized the option that had more civilian casualties involved, as is probably rational. Other times he forgets to stop what he was already doing, and by the time it occurs to him that there was a thing he needed to be at, it's already 40 minutes past. This would make him infamously late for everything, too. And sometimes he just. Doesn't remember. He might not until he sees the call ID of whomever was waiting for him, and then have to explain that he fell asleep on his couch during the first free hour he's had in his last two weeks, and he is so sorry, and he'll be there next time (he won't), etc.
Some people have gotten to implying threats at their events just to guarantee he'll be there. It works, honestly. Others have resigned to the fact that it is impossible to get Dick around or spend any good wholesome time with him unless they show up to him (something that does actually happen quite frequently in continuity and is always a joy).
But. Yeah. Forgetfulness. My personal flawed trait of Dick is that he's never on time and is more likely than not to forget minor events.
*Jack Drake was alive in this period, so Tim was not living there. I just mean in the sense that Tim was over frequently, you don't send a kid home hungry after they fight crime, sometimes he lounged around regardless, that kind of thing.
I'm so sorry Dick Grayson but the period of time where Bruce was dead is literally peak Dick Grayson era. Dad is dead. One brother threw himself off a cliff to avoid going to therapy. The other one is having a genuine mental breakdown in europe and blowing up warehouses. There's a body double of his dead dad running around threatening to destroy the carefully constructed house of lies. He has to look after a murderous ten year old with a sword. People keep asking him about how to run a multibillion dollar company. He's trying his best even though this is literally the thing he's been most afraid of since he was ten years old. He's not good enough and everyone can tell. On top of all that he's getting sensory issues from having to wear a cape.
Man having every single bad day a person can possibly have happen to him simultaneously.
An analysis of their relationship and why I ship them
Prior to the Renegade arc, (AS FAR AS IM AWARE) Dick and Rose donāt have any interactions. Theyād been in the same circles for a long time since Lillian died and Rose was involved with the Titans for a while, even babysitting Lian at one point, but even then there was never a significant enough interaction between them to put on panel. Iām saying this because I think itās important that from whatever age she first moved to New York to age 17, Dick wasnāt a person to her as much as he was just the idea of a heroic leader.
In 2003 we see Slade hire his half brother to kill Roseās foster family as a way to manipulate her onto his side. He starts drugging her and turns her into the second Ravager and she becomes an enemy of the Teen Titans. Now Dick is going through his own personal hell at this point so they donāt really cross paths at all until the Renegade arc begins in 2005. Now they are about 17 and 24. This is obviously where the meat of their relationship is as itās pretty much the only significant interaction they have with each other.
Dick is in possibly the worst mental state heās ever been in because he has allowed a man to die (also everything else that happened prior to that. Also the rape but heās not ready to think abt that), and heās terrified of Bruce finding out about it so he puts distance between himself and everyone he cares about before they have the chance to figure it out, which is encouraged by Catalina. Also not to mention he finds out Bruce almost adopted Tim after three years of knowing him even though it took him fifteen years to adopt Dick.
Bruce's opinion of him and his need to live up to Bruceās expectations are driving factors in this whole arc. Now Deathstroke enters the picture as a Batman foil and asks Dick to train his daughter.
During this arc, Rose is insecure about her place in Sladeās life and does anything to gain his approval. Dick identifies with this and even tells her that he understands what that feels like. He sees himself in her and ends up rescuing her from her father within the same two issues that he reconnects with Bruce. So basically, one of his first acts as a reinstated hero was to remove Rose from her abusive situation right after enrolling himself back in his.
Rose romanticizes her relationship with Dick. He was harsh and mean to her for most of the arc, but he refused to engage with her sexually and he removed her from her fathers care and that was enough to make a knight in shining armor.
At first, there was a mutual animosity. Dick didnāt like seeing Roseās relentless loyalty to a man who just uses her (self-recognition through the other), and Rose liked the false sense of power that came from treating Renegade like she and Slade owned him. He went from a legendary hero figure who sheās been aware of since childhood, to someone she could treat like a pet as long as he was under her fatherās thumb.
At the time, she was actively being abused and had no autonomy over herself both physically and mentally. The crush she developed on Dick started as an inappropriate reaction to her situation, but developed into a desperation to be loved and accepted by someone who is so loved and accepted in the hero community. She went from desperately needing the approval of her father to needing everyone to know that she is nothing like him.
At a certain point in time, Dick felt like the only person who understood her. He saw her at her worst and saved her from it. But heās not just any hero rescuing a damsel in distress, because she also saw him at his worst. She saw him at his rock bottom and helped him crawl out by being someone he could save. Someone who reminded him of himself.
Slade and Bruce were both abusive to Rose and Dick in whatever way you want to call it. I see what Slade did to Rose as an allegory for sexual abuse and Bruce and Dick were emotionally incestuous at best. But both can easily transition into literal sexual abuse. I like to think that Dick was so important to Rose for that short period of time because she identified with him as well. I want to see Rose trying to connect with Dick over their similar issues only for him to reject and deny it because Bruce is nothing like Slade and how dare she imply that. But at the end of the day in his gut he knows sheās right to an extent. Sheās the only person that he can silently relate to because no one else would understand how deep and ugly that kind of relationship can cut you. Sheās so desperate for someone to understand her and so judgemental of herself for her relationship with Slade, that sheāll accept anything of Dick without trying to save or change him. Bruce abused him and he still loves him and she gets that and thatās fine. Slade abused Rose and she still craves his affection and Dick gets that and thatās fine.
Theyāre a weird mix of safe and unsafe for each other, which is why their interactions are so limited. Dick is the one creating the distance by dropping her off with the Titans and rarely visiting, because once he is back at a stable place in his life as Nightwing and reconnected with Bruce, he doesnāt want to have that connection with Rose. He doesnāt want to think about it. He doesnāt want to see himself as a hurt and lost seventeen year old through Rose or to see Bruce as an abuser through Slade.
ā
Thatās the end of my canon interpretation, but hereās a brief idea of the fic that lives in my head:
The liminal space that exists in the post crisis universe after New 52 took over. Bruce is alive and took Batman and Damian back, and Dick is kind of directionless and depressed. Rose has been with the Teen Titans for a while but things are tense and Kon just hurt her feelings, so she takes a break. What starts as letting her crash on his couch turns into a roommates situation (if one roommate didnāt cook, clean, or pay rent). Dick really does know it's a bad idea and heās already having to shut down flirtatious ājokesā by the first night, but he lets it happen anyway bc heās in a self destructive mindset.
Pathetically (affectionate), being around someone younger who sees him in such a good light despite everything, despite meeting him at his lowest, feels really good. Meanwhile, Rose has her little crush and just likes being around him, likes feeling worthy of being around this personal hero version of him that she built in her head.
Thatās how it starts but eventually they eat away at each other through a mutual understanding that neither of them consented to. Rose feels like all of her trauma is on the table already, sheās already been laid bare for him to see. It feels unfair and vulnerable, but good in its own way. But when she locks into his issues, she rlly latches onto it. She loves seeing the darker parts of him, the parts that drove Renegade, because it makes her feel less bad about herself.
One night Nightwing and Ravager run into Batman and itās like she can smell it on him, the shame, the love, the yearning. Sheās borderline happy about it when she puts it together. Not sure if itās because sheās happy to see someone with the same issues as her still manage to be such a good and successful hero, or because sheās happy to see that such a good and successful hero is secretly as dirty and disgusting as she is.
Dick refuses to talk about it, and refuses to admit thereās anything similar about them, about Slade and Bruce. This hurts her deeply bc all this time she thought they were identifying with each other but now it feels like what happened to her is too dirty and shameful for Dick to admit to, but still itās something that he canāt budge on. He just canāt say that about Bruce out loud to Rose Wilson of all people (even if they talk around it and he knows sheās knows).
They have sex about it. Itās a compromise. There has to be some kind of emotional release and it wasnāt going to happen by talking it out. Dick feels guilty that he canāt give her that, so instead he gives her what her traumatized hypersexual teenage brain has been asking for for the past several months.
Of course sheās not that only unhealthy sexually traumatized one. Where she uses sex with men to recreate what happened to her in a safe setting, he uses her as a projection of himself to feel in control of his own abuse. Obviously there are also generally messy lovey dovey feelings towards each other and they act like thatās all it is.
Also side note I think isolation (via Dick distancing himself from the bats and not being on any teams atm) is a really powerful thing with unhealthy relationships, because you donāt have people around you calling you a stupid idiot whoās 26 and should not be touching the 18 year old girl you live with. You just have the hypersexual 18 year old girl subtly hitting on you day after day until you start to feel like maybe it wouldnāt be that bad.
@nibblewinger hiii I loved ur tags and I wanted to comment on these ones specifically
I agree he would not do it ā but Iām specifically putting as many stressors into the situation as I can just to make him break as believably as possible :p
What you said about them not doing anything but having a total lack of boundaries? Real and true. Just the fact that heās choosing to live with a teenage girl who openly had/has a crush on him is wildly inappropriate š and he admits that to himself as soon as Tim asks about it and he lies bc he knows from the beginning the relationship is not coming from a normal or healthy place and itās embarrassing to admit.
They start off fairly normal at first and it makes Dick feel like maybe heās not doing anything wrong but thereās a gradual and persistent lowering of boundaries. Thereās always some kind of excuse so he lets it happen. Until eventually theyāre sleeping in the same bed every night, sheās massages his sore muscles from patrol, heās making her breakfast in bed, theyāre walking around in underwear, etc. But they havenāt kissed so itās all totally normal and fine. And no, no one knows that theyāve been living together for months, so what? š
Itās Bruce that changes everything, thatās the final and ultimate stressor in my mind. The argument that Bruce causes hurts Rose so deeply it starts to feel like giving in to her and comforting her in that way is the morally right thing to do. She wanted an emotional connection, to bond over a shared experience, andā¦ she got that! Just more physically than she was expecting bc Dick canāt give her the words.
The little bubble of their apartment is dangerous bc he tells himself itās fine bc itās legal and it feels fine (ā¦bc of the months of slowly breaking down their boundaries), so itās probably fine
But yeah if I was gonna make it strictly as in character as possible he probably wouldāve just kicked her out as soon as the Bruce argument started
The argument that Bruce causes hurts Rose so deeply it starts to feel like giving in to her and comforting her in that way is the morally right thing to do. She wanted an emotional connection, to bond over a shared experience, andā¦ she got that! Just more physically than she was expecting bc Dick canāt give her the words.
#dickrose#proship#I can just easily see dick falling into inappropriate relationships and convincing himself itās fine bc he doesnāt have a good basis for#whatās normal. things that feel fine for him are not always fine
Just gonna leave these here...
Them sleeping in the same bed genuinely gives me so many brainworms. I can easily see both of them being the big spoon, though I'm leaning toward dick. However, I kinda got it in my head that while Rose is big spooning him, arms wrapped around his chest as she nuzzles into his back, he just has this random moment of clarity and gets this haunted look on this face in the dead of night, only to proceed to resolutely Not Think About It come morning. But that's only half the nights, the other half is her sprawled out on top of him, of course. I wonder if she'd bring up that one time she was in Tim's bed naked just to make him uncomfortable.
Ik Clark and Bruce would def disapprove of Sladick but what would Alfred, Ma, Pa, (and if they were alive), Thomas, Martha, Jor-El, Lara and the Flying Graysons feel about it
Considering Slade is a killer and a pedo, I don't think they would be thrilled.
janainaart
theartofmadeline
snowghoul
germansingergirl
