Chapter Text
Dick lay on Kori's lap, her fingers twirled through his hair in slow, meticulous circles. It was almost five, so he still had a few hours before he would have to go on patrol. He could take a small nap, after having only gotten two hours of sleep the night before because of a drug bust that went about as wrong as it possibly could have. He'd been ranting to Kori over the phone after his shift at work when he got home. Kori, who'd been staying at the Tower, had had enough of phone rants and flew over to his apartment. She beat him there before he could realize the sound coming through her end of the speaker had been the wind.
God, Dick loved her. He'd been so excited to see her, even though they were getting ready to venture off-world together next week for a mission. It didn't matter. Seeing Kori in his shitty, one-bedroom apartment instead of emptiness brought him out of his annoyed tangent and humdrum mood.
She'd laughed when he went to hug her. "I missed seeing your face when you get upset like that. It's kind of funny."
He squawked, a little indignantly, but buried his face into her head all the same. And now they lay in bed—Dick was actually lying down, meanwhile Kori was sitting against the wall, alert as always—in mostly contented silence, both wearing Dick's sweats. He was almost, almost blissfully asleep when a loud series of knocks rang through the apartment.
He groaned and tried to bury himself deeper into Kori's lap.
She giggled, delighted at his misery. "Are you expecting someone?" she asked.
"No," he said, though the sound was muffled against her legs.
Kori hummed.
The person knocked again.
If he had an escrima stick in hand, he would have thrown it at the door in hopes it would get the stranger to leave them alone. But the knock only grew more insistent. Dick pushed himself to his feet and grumbled as he walked toward the door. He heard Kori's footsteps patter behind him and repressed the urge to turn back around and fall back into bed, to sleep.
"C'mon Dickface, I know you're in there."
Dick paused, his hand just about to reach the door handle.
That was…unexpected.
Dick opened the door, shoving aside his confusion, and found Jason staring at him. The fifteen-year-old was still short and a little scrawny, but Dick had always quickly forgotten when faced with Jason's glare.
"Um…" he said. "How'd you get here?"
Jason rolled his eyes and shoved past him.
While their relationship had started off more than rocky, Dick had been trying to amend things. Slightly. He knew his anger, as it always was, was for Bruce, and Bruce alone. Bruce was the one who'd replaced him within a month of him leaving for Blüdhaven and passed along his family name to a kid he'd just found on the streets. Literally.
Jason hadn't told Dick much about his life before Bruce, and he didn't blame the kid. He hadn't exactly been the most welcoming person when they first met. But, from what he did know, Willis Todd was a complete and utter asshole (per Jason's own words), Dick wouldn't last a day living in Crime Alley, and Jason had been through a lot before stealing Batman's tires. As Kori reminded him time and time again when he felt that bitter wave of resentment roll through him at the sight of the new Robin, Jason was a kid who came from nothing. Why would he say no to flying high above the streets that had hurt him for so long? Why wouldn't he jump at the chance to secure his place in the house, and ensure he belonged there? Who, as Kori phrased it, wouldn't want to be Robin?
It wasn't Jason's fault that Bruce handed over his mantle. He tried to remember that. He tried to be a better brother because of it. He wasn't always succesful, but he was trying.
He told Jason to call whenever he needed something and tried to offer an encouraging hand during rough patrols when Bruce was especially shitty. (Sometimes it struck Dick, how different Bruce was from the two of them. For some reason, he only seemed to focus on Jason's mistakes for the past few months whenever Dick ventured to Gotham. He tried to brush it off, hoping that Bruce would learn and be better for the fifteen-year-old.)
"How did you get here?" he asked again, leaning against the closed door at his back.
Jason set his bag on the floor, next to his shitty, lumpy, springy, mysteriously stained beige couch. "Hi, Kori," he said pleasantly.
"Hello, Jason!" she chirped, green eyes bright. She walked over and pulled Dick from the door before standing next to the couch, looking at Jason, who'd slumped into the corner of it with a huff.
They looked at the silent, brooding teenager for three long minutes. Jason clenched his jaw and wrung his hands together in his lap. While Dick was only slightly concerned as to how Jason got here, he was more interested in the why. If something happened, usually Jason called him before hanging up with a huff, declaring he'd been no help. Other times, it would be a small text, something Dick couldn't really decipher. He still didn't know Jason as well as he should have, as well as he wanted to.
"Is there something wrong?" Kori asked, her hand slithering through Dick's arm.
Jason squinted at the ground before launching himself to stand. He paced in front of the couch, ratty jeans and worn red hoodie ruffling with each near-violent turn he made.
"Dick," he groaned, and it almost trailed off into a whine. "He's so fucking stupid. He's so goddamn stubborn and narrow-minded." Jason started pacing and miming wildly with his hands. Kori and Dick shot each other amused sideways glances. They slowly crept onto the couch as Jason raged his grief, presumably at Bruce. "There's a stick so far up his ass it's lobotomizing his fucking brain."
Dick snorted, and Kori slapped a hand over her mouth, stunned at his vitriol.
"What did he do?" Dick asked mildly, trying to hide the bewildered amusement on his face.
"What did he do, you wonder," Jason said, pacing and glaring viciously at Dick's walls. "Oh, let me tell you what he fucking did. First, we do a regular bust, as we always fucking do. I get the guys on the left, he gets the ones on the right. It's going great. I knock down a few assholes, and then I see more creeping through the back door behind him. So, you know as his fucking partner, I throw a batarang or two and knock them out before they shoot his bitchass."
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. Dick couldn't help but notice how aged a gesture it was on the small kid. "The guys are knocked out, the shipment is in Gordon's hands, and I'm thinking it's time to go. Job done. We get into the Batmobile, and he starts screaming at me." The last part is outraged, and he faced Dick as he continued, the betrayal and shock palpable. In what Dick assumes is Jason's best Bruce impression, he said, "You charged in without consulting me. You didn't stick to the plan, and if something had gone wrong, we would be having a very different conversation right now. You're too reckless and a danger to yourself, which," he said, switching back to his normal octave, "is fucking bullshit. These guys were like, two steps above fucking Condiment King. I try to tell him that, and that I was looking out for him, but no. Bruce is never wrong ever, and now I'm fucking benched for saving his emo ass."
Dick let out a startled laugh. Jason had ranted to Dick before, but it was never as loud, unfiltered, and purely Jason as it was then. Something warmed in Dick's chest as he watched Jason heave for breath.
"So, he benched you because you didn't follow direct orders?"
Jason glared at him, and Dick raised his hands.
"I'm sorry, Jason," Kori said, voice infinitely kind. "This happened to Dick a few times, too. Although I think he just went out anyway."
Jason sighed, his head falling forward. He was still a kid, and he'd never looked the part more than. His blue eyes were sullen, head and shoulders drooped. "Jaybird, it'll be okay. He'll…come around. He's just…you know."
Jason nodded. "Don't tell him I'm here, by the way. He doesn't know where I am."
"I wouldn't talk to Bruce if my life depended on it right now."
Kori rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.
"Can I…" Jason said, looking at the floor and wringing his hands into knots. "Could I crash here tonight?" he asked meekly, so at odds with the rage he'd just been spewing only minutes ago. "I just cannot look at him right now. He's been so…mean lately. Like everything I do is the wrong thing, and then when I ask what I should have done, it's always listen to him. Sometimes I—" he cut himself off.
He took in a deep breath and schooled his features into vaguely annoyed nonchalance. But Dick knew better. Jason cared deeply and permanently about everything. His very nature was to care about everything. Despite their distance, Dick still knew that when Jason was angry, he was really just upset and hurt, trying to hide the weakness he thought it was.
"Yeah," Dick said, standing up from the couch and pulling the kid into a hug. "You can crash on the couch. But I do still have to patrol, and you can't come."
Jason sagged slightly against him.
"I'll be fine. I brought a couple of books I could read while you went on patrol. I don't really want to do it anyway, not if I'm benched."
Dick squeezed him one more time before he let go. His stomach rumbled, and he eyed Jason carefully. Jason raised a brow.
"Still have Bruce's card on you?" he asked.
Jason rolled his eyes and smiled slightly. "Yeah, Dickface. Wanna use his card to get food?"
Dick grinned broadly. "Of course, I want to take his money. Kori, what are you in the mood for?"
Kori had flown back to the tower by the time his patrol was finished. His muscles ached, and he hadn't gotten to take that nap as he wanted to. But it was fine, because seeing Jason curled up on his couch, a weathered paperback of Pride and Prejudice clutched within his fingers in sleep, and hidden underneath one of the three blankets Dick had was worth it. Dick sat down on the edge of the couch, trying not to stir him as he stripped off his boots and gear.
Dick showered and changed back into the grey sweats he'd been wearing earlier. His stomach rolled again. He raided his leftovers from the Chinese place they'd gone to earlier. He ate quietly in the kitchen when Jason popped his head up from the couch. His hair was mussed and sticking in about three different directions, his eyes heavy from sleep. He smacked his lips together a few times before letting out a yawn and stretching his arms out wide.
Dick smiled.
"You're back," he mumbled, leaning over the edge of the couch.
Dick nodded around a mouthful of lo mein.
"Do you have to go to space next week?" he whined, head falling sideways on his hands.
"How did you know about that?" Dick asked. "I thought it was above your pay grade."
"I don't get paid much, to my dismay."
"Bruce doesn't give you an allowance?"
Jason rolled his eyes and sat up a little straighter. "No, I just use his card all the time. Essentially, I'm just a thief. A crime I will happily commit." He paused, and Dick took another bite of his food. "Are you sure you have to go into space, though? What am I going to do when he pulls this shit again?"
Dick sighed and set his food down.
"I'm sorry, Jaybird. But I do, unfortunately, have to go into space. Don't worry, though. It's only two months tops. I'll be back before you know it. When I get back, we can vandalize his suit while he's at WE or something."
Jason grinned. "That sounds good, I guess." He lay back down, and within a few seconds, he was asleep again.
Dick put away his food and cleaned up the small mess he'd made. He walked over to the edge of the couch and leaned over, looking at his little brother. This was the first time Jason had really come to terms with something. Maybe…maybe he wasn't such a bad brother. He kind of wished he could rewind the past day, relive it all over again, and witness Jason's bitter anger at Bruce. But he knew that when he got home, Jason would probably be saying the same things, retelling another stupid interaction with Bruce.
He kind of couldn't wait to come back from space.