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It wasn’t raining, as much as Dick thought it would suit the moment. Jason had hated the rain, he’d never shaken the habit of worrying about how he was going to get dry again. It wasn’t dark, either. There was no way Dick would slink into the graveyard at night as if ashamed. It was the middle of the afternoon and there was a funeral being held nearby, close enough that he could hear the sobbing. Here and there other people strolled along the paths looking for their own loved ones. Dick had marched purposefully to Jason’s grave.
Bruce had wanted a grand headstone. Something as large and imposing as Dick’s grief. A chunk of granite to be the physical representation of the hole in his heart. Jason hadn’t left a will—it had probably never crossed him mind to make one—but Bruce had accepted that Dick would know best what Jason would have wanted. The gravestone was a plain slab with only his dates and “Jason Todd” on the first line and “Beloved Hero” on the second.
Dick stood under the blazing summer sun long enough for the funeral to end. The procession of cars fleeing the cemetery seemed too intrusive for the moment he was looking for. It was only when the rumble of the last engine faded away and the crunch of tires too distant to hear that Dick thought he could speak.
“Hey Jason,” he said, wincing. But that’s how he always started talking to him. “I know you said getting married was for straight people. That we didn’t need to make a big fuss and a party like a bunch of lesbians if we decided to be official. But… as of today, we could. Can you believe it? They actually did it.”
Grief buried him like an avalanche. Yes, gay marriage was legal now but what good did it do him?
He drew a shaky breath and continued, “I could have made them let me into your hospital room instead of needing to call Bruce. I could have been your next of kin and avoided that whole fight with your dad. I could have married you.”
His voice failed again. He would have married Jason. He would have held one of those insipid commitment ceremonies that Jason hated except Jason had hated them. He would have spent his life with Jason except he’d spent Jason’s life instead. And they’d wasted so much time dealing with assholes and bigots and idiot bureaucrats determined to use every method at their disposal to punish a pair of faggots who refused to live quietly.
Tears falling free, he went on, “You knew I always sided with the lesbians on this. I like to think that if I’d had the chance, you’d have said yes. That’s why I got you this ring. You never let me buy you as much as you deserved but I had to get you something. Don’t worry, it’s tasteful and reserved. I think you’d’ve liked wearing it.”
Restraining a sob, he sank to one knee, barely keeping himself from collapsing in a sprawl. He swallowed and held the box up to the grave stone and opened it. With the hinge towards him, he couldn’t see the ring but he knew it sparkled in the sunlight.
Dick said, “So, uh, here goes nothing. Will you marry me?”
He waited until the sun set but never got an answer.