that_goldenboy | (no subject)

Who: Jim Kirk and Dick Grayson
When: Sometime after Bruce kicks Dick out of the family.
What: Bruce is adopting again.

Jim was in that awkward place where he was loyal to Dick and wanted to help him in anyway that he could, and at the same time, actually not fighting with Bruce for once (this whole mess with Dick aside) and not really looking to make that any worse. So he generally took the stance of not talking about it, and hanging out with Alfred, the other neutral party in all of this and kind of ignoring Jason. Which was kind of easy, since you know, he didn't do the cape and mask thing.

Only now Bruce was trying to adopt him too and Jim couldn't really ignore that. Couldn't stay silent about it either since Bruce hadn't adopted Dick and had only adopted Jim because the state wouldn't let him stay otherwise. It was adoption or a Starfleet sponsored orphanage.

He was pretty sure the same option didn't exist with Jason. This was just Bruce being an ass or a crazy person or a crazed ass. And since he was also going to be stupid about this, it would be up to Jim to tell Dick. Something he planned to do over lunch with his brother.

Jim ordered an appetizer while he waited for Dick, trying to figure out if the restaurant would bend it's liquor rules by six months for Bruce Wayne's kid.

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"Because I wanted to have lunch with my brother," Jim answered quietly. "And it's better you heard that from me than reading it in the paper. Even if you won't admit it."

Dick snorted quietly, looking down at the floor instead of at Jim. He knew he was right, but "Your brother is not going to be very good company right now."

"Turns out I'm pretty bad company even on my good days," Jim replied, daring to give him a little smile. "Let's just eat and then you can run off all you want."

He studied him for another couple seconds before slowly sitting back down, now torn between finishing his food as quickly as possible and bolting or making an effort to act normal. "Okay."

Jim wouldn't really judge him for either but he was grateful that Dick stayed. "Thank you," he said quietly.

Dick just shrugged, staring at the table and fiddling idly with his napkin. "Thanks for giving me the head's up."

"Bruce should've done it. But he's being an exceptional asshole lately, so I'm surprised that I actually was informed."

"Yeah, well." He shrugged, not really knowing what to say to that. "What are you going to do." Rhetorical.

Jim shrugged a little bit, moving his straw around in a circle in his glass. "What have you been doing since it happened?"

"Working. Trying to figure out where I want to set up shop. Nothing too exciting."

"Where have you thought about so far?"

"New York, maybe. I'm not sure." Since he was spending more time with the Titans, it seemed to make sense for him to more or less just move in at the Tower or something.

Honestly, Kirk knew next to nothing about the Titans and their tower and all of that stuff. But he knew where the tower was located at least. "New York smells, from what I hear."

"Not any worse than Gotham," he joked feebly, thanking the waiter when he dropped off the onion rings and immediately started picking one apart, wanting something to do other than just sitting around making small talk and settling for nervous fiddling.

Jim smiled a little bit at that, still playing with his straw. He wasn't any better at hiding nervous fiddling or making small talk either.

"Yeah but I'm not moving to New York."

"You don't have to," he said, trying to smile reassuringly. "I'll be right across the water. It's not like I'm moving to Japan."

"Yeah if you think I'm heading over there on a regular basis, you can forget it."

"I can come over here."

"I don't want to make you come back here if you hate it so much."

"Jim, I don't hate Gotham, I'm angry with Bruce, okay? And that doesn't extend to you or the city."

"I don't want to make you run the risk of having to see him then," Jim answered. So he was being a little stupid, since he wanted to keep them separate from Bruce but he didn't want him to leave either.

"Have you even talked to him since?"

He hesitated, because he really didn't know how to explain all of this in public. "Yeah. It was kind of a disaster."

In that neither of them had actually talked, and he was still really not sure where he stood with him.

That was the first time that Jim was informed about it. "What happened?"

"Nothing interesting," he said, in a causal tone that was still heavily implying he couldn't talk about it in public. "We didn't really talk, and I guess it's a we're just going to ignore each other and apparently adopt other kids without thinking about why that might make someone upset."

... That came out a little stronger than he intended, and he tried to cover.

"I mean, I don't know. He could have... said something about it."

Jim gave him a raised eyebrow for that small outburst. "You know that you guys never needed to formalize anything. You're more his kid than I'll ever be."

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