Chapter Text
He was okay. He was okay. He didn’t die. He was okay. Jason was… he was Robin and Robin was magic and didn’t die and he was okay. Everyone had been gone for a while and now they were back and everything was fine. Everything was fine and he didn’t die. Robin didn’t die and there wasn’t… no memorials for Robin. No, nope. Jason was fine. The green and the light and the bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. That was… he was okay. He was fine. He was here and everything was going to be okay. Everything had to be okay. Everything was okay.
He was fine. He was fine. Dick was here and he’d said weird stuff and now Jason wanted Dad. Dad was going to fix things and then everything would be okay. Everything was okay. “You with me?” Dick asked.
Jason whinged, moving away. “Dad,” he wanted Dad. Dad wouldn’t say weird things.
Dick spoke to the air for a little while, something about holding something until morning. Jason didn’t really understand but then, “Jay.” Bruce’s voice was in his ears.
“Dad,” he replied. He wanted Bruce here.
“How are you feeling?”
He whinged. Dick was being weird and he was scared and everything was okay.
“I know, we’ll get you home soon,” Bruce said. “Agent A will make pot roast or chilli dogs or whatever you want and you can play with Bathound and we’ll read books together.”
Jason whimpered again, curling on himself. Everyone was acting weird and something- everything was fine. Everything was fine.
“We’re going to work things out,” Dick said softly. “We always do in the end.”
“You’re going to be okay,” Bruce added.
Jason was okay. He was fine. He hummed in agreement.
Dick held out a hand for a hug and Jason took it. Everything was okay. He was with his cool brother at the cool tower and he’d get to go home and then he could go to school and be a hero again and everything would be okay.
Dick smiled at him and the hug was good but he was still kind of pissed off at him, he scratched his face before cuddling back into his side. That was what he got for saying weird shit.
“You’re going to end up with very short nails if you keep doing that,” Dick warned.
Jason shrugged. He was still kind of mad at Dick but he was his brother and he thought… brothers fought sometimes. There was a phrase he wanted to say but he couldn’t remember it. He squeezed Dick as tight as he could, nudging his head under his chin.
“Love you too,” Dick told him.
Jason hummed happily. He’d understood.
Eventually Dick pulled away from the hug and started walking around the room, putting things in a weird box. Jason moved to help, grabbing things and putting them in.
“Yeah, that’s mine,” Dick said about the cool picture, putting it back on the shelf.
“Is there anything here you want to take home with you?” Dick asked.
Jason hummed. He had his clothes; he had the Cave Creature. He wanted the fluffy blanket.
“How about I get you one that’s exactly the same as a housewarming gift?” Dick asked.
Jason didn’t know what that meant but he wanted a warm house. He nodded.
There was the cool thing that… that Clark had given Jason here. Jason tracked it down and picked it up, putting that in the box too.
He looked around the room for a little while longer but there was nothing else that seemed that exciting. The books were cool but they were going home and Jason had books. He paced around the room all the same. There was nothing else he wanted to take with him aside from Dick. He wondered if he was meant to put Dick in the box too. He pushed him over to it. “I’m just gonna drive over,” Dick told him. “I’m glad you want me around though.”
Jason nodded and walked to the door. They were going home. He missed home so much.
“Let me suit up and then we’ll head out.”
Dick spent more time faffing around with things than they actually spent flying. Jason sighed the entire journey over as Dick kept telling him that ‘Jason couldn’t know Nightwing’. Even though Jason was Jason and he did know Nightwing and he had no fucking clue what Dick was on about. As they landed, Dick said he was turning into something Jason didn’t understand but he was laughing slightly as he said it so Jason didn’t think it was bad.
He followed him out of the jet, walking down the ramp even though that was so much duller and slower than just jumping. “We are at location,” Dick said next to him, in full Nightwing voice.
Jason really didn’t like the fact he didn’t have his mask on. He whimpered.
“We’re gonna get you home to your family soon,” Dick said, still acting weird. “It’s gonna be okay,” Jason didn’t get the next thing he said, but then Bullock was there and Jason- Bullock was- he kind of reminded Jason of scary Dad sometimes. He hid behind Dick. Bullock still looked at him. He climbed up Dick’s shoulders and hid his head behind his.
He didn’t hear what Dick was saying but now Bullock definitely couldn’t see him and that was good even if all he could see was Dick’s hair. Dick then walked away, Jason clinging to his back.
They went inside and Jason kept glancing around as they went into an individual room. He had to poke his head over Dick’s shoulder to see who was at the desk. “It’s been too long, Miss Gordon,” Dick said, doing the annoying, flirting voice.
Jason pulled a disgusted face at Babs.
“You are the worst,” Dick said, sounding more entertained than angry as he hit their heads together.
“Keep bullying him, Jason, he deserves it,” Babs said. She then held an arm out and Jason remembered that meant hugs. He hopped down from Dicks’ shoulders and ran at her.
She hugged him tight and he had to duck down his head to rest it on top of hers, “You’ve grown since I last saw you,” she said.
He grinned. He wanted to be taller than Bruce one day.
“I should probably go,” Dick said, “They’re going to get suspicious if I linger.” Jason didn’t really get what he meant but he was kissing Babs on the cheek and hugging Jason and he was gone.
“He’ll be back,” Babs reassured Jason. “Now, let’s get you home.”
She spoke to a Mr Wayne and Jason recognised that name. It meant something and Babs was sounding weird, but he didn’t know why. “B’s on his way,” she told him after a few minutes.
Jason smiled. “Aa?”
“Alfred will probably be waiting at the penthouse,” she told him.
“Ay?” would Ace be coming? He thought… there was something about Ace.
“You’ll be going to the penthouse.”
Jason frowned.
“Not what you meant?” Babs asked.
“Ay,” Jason said again, “Rrrru.”
“Ace is at the penthouse,” Babs told him.
“Rrru,” Jason tried to mimic the noise Ace made.
“Ruff,” Babs said and then laughed. “My comm line was still open. Wing is laughing at us.” She tapped her ear, “Now I at least can’t hear him laughing at us.”
Jason chuckled too. He then processed that Bruce was coming and he bounced up and down excitedly, taking Babs’s hands to bounce them up and down with him too. He… it had been a long time since he’d seen Bruce, he thought.
She pulled one hand away and then turned her wheelchair around so they both spun. “Woo.”
“Woo,” Jason echoed.
Bruce arrived not long after, Babs leading Jason out to go see him. He was in pyjamas and his hair was messy and he looked tired. “Dad!” Jason shouted, tackling him.
Bruce didn’t pick him up but he held him tight, Jason’s head squished into his ribs. Something wet dropped on Jason’s head. He wondered if it was raining somehow.
He looked up and Bruce was crying and that wasn’t… that didn’t happen. He tried to murmur comforting noises so Bruce would stop crying.
Bruce smiled at him then, voice wobbly in a way that meant Jason didn’t catch what he said. But then they were going, and they were going to be home soon. Jason couldn’t wait to be home.
Bruce got into the car outside and Jason tried to work out how to do the same. He prodded the side of it but nothing happened. He didn’t know what to do about it. Bruce got out and stood next to him. “If you pull this handle here,” he said.
Jason didn’t know what handle meant. He looked at him.
“We’ll work on it,” Bruce said before proceeding to zone out for ages. Jason looked around but there was nothing exciting around. It was dark and quiet and there were people making lots of noise but they were… they weren’t hurting anyone.
“Dad,” Jason wanted to go home now.
Bruce blinked a few times and opened the car door, “Move your feet into the footwell, Jay,” he pointed at the big space near the seat. Jason did as told, Bruce leaning over him, “Okay, just doing your seatbelt,” a black fabric thing went across Jason’s chest and went into a plastic thing with a click.
He took the opportunity to affectionately headbutt Bruce.
“You’re welcome,” Bruce kissed his forehead. “Let’s get you home.”
Jason loved watching the city go by and feeling the rumbling of the car and watching Bruce turn the wheel around. He hummed happily, resting his head against the window to try and feel the rumble against his face. He was going to see Alfred and Ace and he was going to go home. And Dick had said a weird thing about him being dead and he’d had to have a load of tests and Bruce… he’d been gone and it had been dark and scary. Everything was okay, he was fine. Dick was just being weird. He chewed on his necklace nervously.
“How was-” Bruce cut himself off, “Did you have a good time at the Tower?”
The Tower, he’d… the Tower was fun. He… Dick was there and Donna and Roy. He liked the Tower. He nodded.
“I’m glad,” Bruce said. “Did you go swimming?”
“Yeah!” Swimming had been really fun. Jason wanted to go swimming again. The water was fun to splash in and his leg didn’t hurt in the water and it was… swimming was good. He chuckled to himself.
They weren’t home. They were at the… the tall place… they were at the tall place and Jason thought they were going home and everyone had said they were going home and this wasn’t home! He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to be here and Bruce was getting out of the car and no, Jason was going home! Bruce made noises at him and reached for the clicky thing.
Jason batted his hand away with a shout. He wanted to go home.
Bruce made more noises at him and he was too mad to make sense of them and “Fuck!” He wanted to go the fuck home.
Bruce made even more noises and they still didn’t make sense and Jason wanted to go home. He just wanted to go home. He wailed, throwing his head back in frustration. It hurt and it matched all the pressure building up in his chest and he wanted to go home. He wanted to go home.
Eventually, the pressure went, and Jason just felt tired and sore and sad and trapped and he didn’t have the energy to be mad anymore. Bruce did the clicky thing and lifted him out of the car. Jason flopped his head into his shoulder. He wanted to go home. Not to this shitty not home place. Bruce rubbed his back and carried him away from the car.
They had to go in a box after that and it moved about and Jason didn’t like this. He whinged and Bruce kissed the side of his head. “You’re okay,” he promised.
Jason whimpered again. He was not okay. He’d be okay when he got home and this wasn’t home.
“We’re home,” Bruce lied.
Jason growled in response. They weren’t fucking home yet. He wanted to go home.
“Do you want to go to the manor?” Bruce asked.
Manor… that word meant something. Jason didn’t know what though.
“The manor, where we live normally, fell down,” Bruce said. “But we’re fixing it. It will be back to normal in a month.”
The manor was… in a month, falling. Jason was really confused. He spotted Alfred. “Aa.”
Bruce set him to the ground and he walked over and hugged Alfred.
“It’s wonderful to see you again, Master Jason,” Alfred said. He then continued to make vague English noises for a while. Jason tilted his head in confusion and followed after him and there were cookies and his leg hurt him but there were fucking cookies. He ran for them.
The cookies were so good. “Fuck!” Jason bounced up and down excitedly as he bit into one.
Bruce walked over then and took a cookie too. Jason took a second one and giggled to himself. They were his cookies. “Alfred’s cookies are good, right?”
Jason nodded enthusiastically. Alfred’s cookies were the best.
Alfred chatted to him about things he wanted at the manor and Jason sat and listened along even if he had no idea what any of them meant. “Do you want to see Ace?” Bruce asked.
Jason tried to make the Ace noise again before nodding.
Bruce disappeared and Alfred kept talking to him about random shit but then Ace was there and he was wagging his tail and he looked so cute.
“Jay, do you want to come say hi to Ace?”
Jason nodded, running over before getting a little bit nervous. Dogs were good and nice and… there was… when he was alone… he wasn’t sure but Ace sniffed at him and pushed him over and was licking at his face and it tickled. He laughed and his hands moved to rub behind Ace’s ears and he had really soft fur and his tail kept beating at Jason’s legs. He looked to Bruce and Alfred as well as he could with Ace now headbutting him too. Everything was okay.