boxofmisfits | A Simple Mission

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A Simple Mission

The Scarecrow seemed to have the worst luck. Here he was, a brilliant man, able to give the Dark Knight a run for his money with his array of toxins and psychological trickery, and yet he kept failing. One would think he would have learned by now, but he was a persistent sort.

Crane had decided to try his hand at spreading terror through a neighboring city, only for the bird from Bludhaven to show up. His plan to spread terror through contaminating perfume and body spray hadn't gone through, thanks to Nightwing, and he'd been swiftly captured.

So now here he was, handcuffed, and looking out the window of the helicopter. His gauntlet lay out of reach, and if he tried anything, Nightwing had no problem knocking him out. It really was a no-win situation. Soon, he'd be back in Arkham, plotting his next escape while he toyed with whichever doctor was foolish enough to ask to be assigned to him.

Crane looked over at Nightwing.

"Does this make you feel proud? Being a vigilante, taking the law into your own hands?"

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“That must have been awful...” Dick’s sympathy was genuine, and he wondered, not for the first time, if the real monsters in the world weren’t the ones who wore masks and concocted elaborate schemes, but the people who could do things like that to their own family.

"It was. I did away with her when I was only ten." There was no hint of regret in his voice. If anyone had deserved to die, it was that old bat. When he'd first dawned the Scarecrow costume, he'd considered tracking down his parents and getting revenge on them for abandoning him, but decided he had better things to do.

"You know, you're the first person I've told this to who wasn't an Arkham psychiatrist."

Dick decided maybe it was better to focus on the second part than the first, the idea that Crane had killed when he was only ten was... well, an unsettling reminder of just who he was, it was easier to try and understand him if he didn’t focus on the things Crane had done as a result of his torment.

“I guess I’m just a good listener?” He suggested, half-joking

"Perhaps. It could also be that human nature dictates a need to stave off boredom and everyone has a slight inkling for conversation and fending off loneliness."

It was a little obvious that he was mainly using his psychology talk to try and rationalize why he was talking to Nightwing and being friendly with him. After all, they were enemies. Yet Crane was finding himself coming to actually like the young man's company.

"Or maybe you are indeed just a good listener."

“Could be, could be...” Dick pretended to consider the proper, more academic explanation, but after a moment he flashed a grin - it only got wider when Crane seconded his theory

“Yea I think you’re right, it’s that one,” he laughed “I just have one of those faces... not that you can see my face.” And he felt a little bad about that, it was weird to be walking along in hiking gear with his mask still on, but however much he was trying to lure Crane out from behind his metaphorical mask, there was no way he was stupid enough to let go of his physical one, it would take a lot more than one heart to heart to reach that point.

"I can see enough of it to tell that you have one of those faces." Crane was admittedly curious to see what he looked like under the mask, even though Nightwing was smart to keep it on, lest his hiking companion ever use his identity against him. Yet that wasn't really on his mind.

"I ran away after that, and managed to make it all the way to Pennsylvania before social services took notice. I was a ward of the state for a while, and by the time I was eighteen, I made my way to Gotham City."

“Why Gotham?” He couldn’t help but be curious, it wasn’t a place he imagined a lot of people wanting to come. Plus he was kind of interested in Crane’s story and he wanted to encourage the man to keep talking, it had moved on from purely wanting to understand his motivations and was approaching something more genuine.

"It's just where my travels led me. I heard there was a good university here, and some job openings. Arkham goes through quite a few doctors, even before I got there." It wasn't exactly Harvard or Yale, but grants from the Wayne Foundation meant the school was well-funded and had many good programs.

"That's very true," Dick had to admit. The inability of Arkham to keep a stable staff was one of the many troubling things about the hospital. It was definitely something that needed a complete overhaul to help the people who were sent there, but given how many of them were criminals, almost nobody cared - despite how much it would actually help in the long run.

"But coming to Gotham didn't stop the bullying?" he prompted.

"It did not. Some bullies learn their lesson and become better when they get older, while others simply continue to be bullies their whole lives." Crane had studied a bit of that in college, what made someone lash out at others and that some people just liked hurting others. Especially when they were never taught that what they were doing was wrong.

"I was never the snappiest dresser, or the most social person. That made me a target, as a child, a teen and an adult. Plus, some of them weren't exactly... tolerant, once word got out about certain... things about me."

"Certain things?" Dick kept his curious, encouraging tone, though he was already trying to figure out what Crane was getting at - the most obvious culprit was his villainous ways but given the nature of this conversation and the way it seemed to lean more towards origin story than the difficulty of maintaining interpersonal relationships while terrorising cities, he had a suspicion that maybe there was something else Crane was trying to say, some other thing that he was bullied for.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to," he added, because as curious as he was he didn't want to push Crane too far.

"Yes," Crane thought about just taking Nightwing up on the offer to let the subject fall by the wayside, and not tell him the truth. But Nightwing had proved to be a good listener, and it was nice to actually speak to someone about all of this.

"Word spread that I'm sexually attracted to men." There, he said it. "While the university as a whole didn't mind, certain colleagues weren't very open-minded about it. That wasn't the only thing I was bullied over, trust me, it was just one of many."

"Oh, I see," Dick nodded slightly, momentarily at a loss for anything else to say. He had to admit he was a little surprised - it wasn't as though he'd spent time contemplating the sexual identities of assorted Gotham villains, so it wasn't something he'd ever considered as a motive before. It made a lot of sense, he's almost a little ashamed of himself that he hadn't thought about it, but it wasn't as though it ever came up in conversation before now.

"Well... I know what that's like." he thought it was probably safe to admit to that. His love life was certainly the speculation of a number of Gotham's tabloids, and there'd been more than a few articles run about his preferences and the evidence thereof, but his story was hardly unique enough that talking about it would give his identity away "I had some trouble at school for similar reasons. Still comes up occasionally... stupid, isn't it? In this day and age..."

"Sadly, not everywhere is entirely free of prejudice, even in states and cities where the general population and policies are more open-minded." Obviously none of this excused his current behavior, or him turning to his life of crime. Plenty of people got picked on for not being straight, and they didn't don a scarecrow costume to terrorize people.

"You?" Jonathan turned to Nightwing, his eyes a little wide. Certainly, Nightwing's sexuality had never crossed his mind, since he just didn't think about it. He was often too busy just trying to break his mind, or scare the daylights out of him. "Well, one more little thing we have in common, then."

"Hey," Dick shrugged, giving Crane a lop-sided smile "how could I contain this to just one gender?" He gestured down at his body with a laugh.

"But seriously though, I'm just attracted to people, doesn't really matter to me what's in their pants I'm probably gonna have fun regardless, you know?"

If somebody had told him a couple of days ago that he'd be spending today strolling through the woods with Scarecrow talking about his sexuality he would have probably thought they needed to check into Arkham, and yet here he was.

"I'm quite selective of my partners these days. I've had one night stands, both were more for experimentation than actual feelings for one another. But if I were to meet someone I have a real connection with, then I could see myself wanting to sleep with him."

Crane certainly hadn't seen their conversation going in this particular direction. He never talked about his sex life, and yet here he was, talking about it with one of Batman's fellow vigilantes.

But he found it easy to talk to Nightwing. He was fun, amicable, and willing to listen.

"I suppose your...um... well, you know, lifestyle? I guess that doesn't really lend itself to dating..." how does a supervillain even go about meeting people for that kind of thing? Are there bars? For a wild moment he imagines some kind of weird, villain socialisation, like Penguin setting up Scarecrow and the Riddler on a blind date. The idea is so ridiculous it takes all his effort not to laugh out loud.

"It must get lonely." Is what he says instead.

"Sometimes." Crane admits. "Oh, everybody in Arkham gets the occasional letter from some poor sod who says they support us and would love to marry us when we get out, but that's not real." Crane could spend a few hours dissecting just what went into the minds of such people who were fans of violent criminals, if for no other reason than to change the subject.

Yet he didn't feel much like changing the subject. "I haven't given it much thought. My books have always been enough company for me."

Edited 2019-06-27 00:28 (UTC)

"I'd probably go crazy," Dick admits lightly, he knows he probably shouldn't be opening up so much to the villain but it feels fair given how much Crane is telling him, and none of it is information that should give his identity away. "I've never been very good on my own, I always prefer to have people around me, and I love a little romance in my life... not that dating is all that easy for me, either."

He at least had the option of taking off the mask and going back to just being Dick Grayson, his other job didn't lend itself well to being a reliable boyfriend but he could at least go out and pretend for a few hours.

"I've always been an introvert. I've read my share of romance stories, mostly classical ones, such as Jane Austin or Shakespeare's romance plays." Though, Crane personally believes Romeo and Juliet is more about the tragedy that a senseless feud claimed the lives of two hormonal teenagers than the forbidden romance.

"But actual romance, that's something I've long come to realize is out of my grasp. Especially with who I am."

"Never say never?" Dick offered hopefully. He knew it was sort of a dumb thing to say, since he had enough trouble committing to dating somebody as a vigilante, it had to be next to impossible for Crane.

"I can imagine it's pretty tough," he says more seriously "that's kind of a shame though... everybody deserves somebody they can have a connection with..." even people like Crane or the other villains out there. In truth he hoped someone like that might stop them being a villain, if they had somebody else to think of, though if anything happened to that person he'd seen plenty of times it could just make things worse.

"I suppose if the right person were to ever come along, then I could see myself wanting more. Someone smart, whom I have chemistry with, and perhaps someone handsome." Crane had to look at the trees lest Nightwing see the bit of red crossing his cheeks. He was being credulous.

It was kind of sad that his list was so straightforward - he didn't have overly high expectations, they were perfectly reasonable - but at the same time they may as well have been the most ridiculous list of demands in the world for all they were really achievable. Still, Dick was nothing if not an optimist, and if he was being entirely honest with himself the fact that he was pretty sure he could see a hint of a blush on Crane's cheeks was strangely endearing.

"Well, maybe some day..."

"Yes, some day." Looking back over at Nightwing, Crane contemplated his next words. He felt like an utter fool. They were mortal enemies, but in the short time they'd been forced to work together, he'd seen another side of Nightwing. A side he'd never even considered.

"You're certainly intelligent. And you certainly have a nice jawline that indicates a handsome face."

Crane braced himself. Now came the part where Nightwing pushed him away and they spent the rest of this little adventure in awkward tension. He was already having flashbacks to his attempts at romance in high school.

Dick's steps faltered for a moment and he almost stumbled, but he managed to catch himself just in time, looking up at Crane with surprise.

At first he can't quite believe what he's hearing, telling himself he must have misunderstood... but no, Crane really just said that, he was actually flirting with Dick.

Despite his normal cool confidence, Dick was pretty sure he was blushing. He only hoped his mask hid the worst of it.

"You're not so bad yourself," he at least managed to keep his equilibrium when it came to responding, despite his initial shock, and his response was cheerful and flirtatious "I mean, you're definitely smart and you're a pretty good looking guy."

A Simple Mission

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