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The circus comes to Gotham.
It is not Haly’s but Dick is familiar with this one too.
It was almost going to be a family affair until Bruce is called into an urgent board meeting at Wayne Enterprise for another justified matter. Dick has lived through years of plans that fall through last minute to feel too sad over it, he has long since stopped with keeping count.
Dick goes, just with Jason in tow, and it's the closest thing they could have to a date even if neither one of them says it.
There is the sweet smell of caramel popcorn that clings heavily to the air around them.
Lights flashing red and yellow, bulbs buzzing underneath the noise of the people that have gathered. And there is a lot here that has Jason wondering if he might have stepped outside of Gotham after all because none of this hold a single resemblance to the same city he's lived in all his life. It is not so much awe as it is disbelief that stench of sewers and the gloom can be swept so neatly underneath the burst of colours and sounds when the sky above his head is bright even without the sun.
“Come on, little wing.” Dick says from right next to him, standing close while the press of the crowds around them push them closer still. “There’s lots I want to show you.”
Dick’s grin is infectious, and in the face of pure unadulterated happiness like that even Jason has to smile too when Dick drags in a deep breath of what has to be the scent of home for him.
“Lead the way.” Jason tells him, and Dick does.
It starts with Dick’s fingers wrapping around his wrist, tugging him close and keeping him there.
Jason has no idea where Dick is taking him but he follows nonetheless, falls right into steps with him. The two of them grounded to one another with the firm hold Dick’s hand has on him. Halfway between the funhouse and the big top, Dick’s fingers go from their hold at Jason's wrist to intertwine themselves with his.
When Dick doesn't let go even as he buys him cotton candy at a stand, Jason clutches back at him in reflex and it feels like some kind of vice. There are no signs that Dick even intends to when he pushes the cotton candy into Jason's remaining free hand only to pull him behind another stand piled high with bags and bags of peanuts in quick succession.
They are out of sight but hardly out of mind when all Jason can do is think of Dick in that way he does.
And when Dick leans forward, Jason doesn’t pull back. He opens his mouth to it.
The pink floss dissolves on their tongues as Dick kisses the next breath from Jason’s lungs like he's been waiting all night just for this.
“Still not letting go?”
In the shadows that split off and splinters into the night, they stand there with their fingers intertwined, looking out of place even when no one can see.
Dick draws back, slow and reluctant and making a show of it while all Jason can taste on the flat of his tongue is a sweetness well beyond the sugar. Jason raises an eyebrow, one side of his face illuminated by the lights of the carnival rides in the distance as he brings their connected hands up between them until it is eye level. Jason shakes it a little for emphasis even if this is hardly his first attempt to remind Dick just what they are doing.
And Jason is good like that, like Dick ever had a chance of not letting this all go to his head.
“Didn’t want to lose you in the crowd.” Dick answers, tightening the hold further.
There is absolutely no one else around them for Dick to use as an excuse but he is not looking for one. He recognizes Jason's expectation for it when the murmur comes out without the usual hard edge lining every word Jason allows himself to voice out.
“No chance of that now, Dickie.”
“How about just for the sake of it then?" Dick laughs, soft, and it rings like the music playing on a loop from the funhouse. He knows Jason is reaching out in his own way, and Dick's never been able to step down from this role to reassure. Dick is not without his own trouble but he also wants to spoil himself on a night like this. He loves Jason beyond this. If Jason is looking for an explanation, this is the one he gets. "What if I just want to hold your hand, Jay?”
Jason isn’t one to argue because he too can be convinced (easily, but Dick needs to earn that knowledge), and he would throw his arms up in defeat if they aren't otherwise occupied.
“Your night, your rules, circus boy.”
Dick only laughs harder at that. “You don’t get to complain when I make you do all the work tonight.”
“I do all the work every night.”
“Not last night.”
Jason rolls his eyes before he is the one to pull Dick along this time, weaving between two tents to navigate themselves back in to the bustling centre of the circus. Shoulders bumping with every step, the taste of cotton candy to blame when the sweetness still comes out coating every word.
“Come on, win me something embarrassingly big.”
Dick does.
And to Jason’s delight, the giant stuffed bird's not even soft when he has to wrap both hands around the toy just to hold on to it.