Work Text:
Dick woke up to a beeping, but not the normal beeping of his alarm. No this beeping was familiar in a way he knew was never good. Rhythmic and constant, it was the sound of a heart monitor.
He slowly blinked his eyes open to the ceiling of the cave. His limbs felt like jello. He could vaguely register someone at his bedside and the faint smell of… pancakes. At least he was waking up to a treat even if it wasn’t in the best conditions. He had to assume the person at his bedside was Alfred, so it was a little shocking to hear a gruff “Awake yet, Dickface?” instead.
Jason wasn’t really a common occurrence in many instances, least of all being the designated one to look after him.
“Jay? What’re you-” He cut himself off with a hiss, his side burning from trying to sit up.
“Yeah, that’s what you get for jumping in front of bullets. The demon brat told me to tell you you’re an idiot. There was a hint of gratitude somewhere in there, but to reiterate in case you missed it, you’re an idiot.”
He did distinctly remember shielding Damian from a stray bullet before waking up here. “Worth it,” Dick grunted, finally pulling himself up into a sitting position.
“Yeah, you would say that.” Jason stood from his stool with a tray of the pancakes he’d smelt along with a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, and placed it in Dick’s lap. “Here, don’t say I never did anything for you. Happy Anniversary and all that.”
Dick arched a brow at him. “I wasn’t aware we were dating?” He got a flick on the forehead for that.
“No, Dickwad. Man, you must be out of it if you don’t remember,” Jason grumbled but there was a faint red flush on Jason’s ears. “It’s Robin's day.”
Dick could practically kick himself for not remembering. He made it a point every year to spend time with each and every one of the Robins on this day to commemorate the day he'd decided Batman needed a kid sidekick and ended up changing all of their lives.
In the past few years it became somewhat of a routine tradition. He’d take Tim and Steph out for a big breakfast, their two favourite things being coffee and waffles, respectively. He’d then drag the two to pick up Damian for a trip to the zoo, something he came up with to keep Damian distracted enough to not fight with Tim and to give Tim a chance to break out his old camera. He then would spend a good amount of time hunting down Jason and they’d end up going on patrol together until Dick led them back to the one hotdog stand that somehow managed to stay alive despite how crazy Gotham could get, and got them Jason’s favourite chili dogs. Tim would usually join in for the patrol and eat half a hotdog before he couldn’t handle it anymore, leaving the rest for Dick or Jason to finish.
Dick groaned, “I can’t believe that’s today. Our tradition, Jay!”
Jason put a hand up to get Dick to stop. “Chill, Bigbird. There’s probably nothing more Robin than the first Robin using himself as a meat shield for the current Robin.” Dick wasn’t sure he liked how Jason phrased that even if it did hold a sense of truth. “Besides we’re still gonna celebrate. You just got breakfast, isn’t that one of the things you do with the brats.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Stop pouting,” And Dick was absolutely affronted because he was not pouting. “You spend time with all of us all the time. Besides, the brats are here. They’re trying their best to make more breakfast without burning down Alfred’s kitchen.”
“Tried and succeeded!” He heard Steph holler near the entrance of the cave.
“Alfred let them touch the kitchen?” Dick was a little shocked considering the only person Alfred ever let touch the kitchen was Jason.
“He let Steph touch it,” Tim clarified, showing up behind Jason, carrying a large stack of waffles. “For the special occasion.”
“And they’re eating their own creations. I made those,” Jason pointed at the pancakes in Dick’s lap, a decision he was sure was also made by Alfred, probably afraid whatever Steph made would either poison him or push him closer to diabetes.
“Does that mean we’re still doing the zoo and patrol?” and that, very rudely, got him a snort of laughter from everyone in the room.
“Injured idiots don’t get to go on patrol.” Well Jason didn’t have to put it like that.
“We’re watching Animal Planet and then just having a regular movie night tonight. Bruce is giving all of us the night off,” Tim more reasonably and politely explained.
“That would be what Damian’s up to.” Steph, unsurprisingly, already had her face stuffed with waffles but still managed to sound coherent. He probably should start with his own breakfast considering he could see the frootloops melting into the milk.
“I guess that’ll be nice. Not as nice as patrol but still nice.”
“Why do we let him take care of himself?” Tim asked incredulously.
“We don’t, we take turns babysitting him.” And that got Jason a pillow to the face. He deserved it even if he did make him breakfast.
The movie night was still nice. Damian and Tim actually put in an attempt to be civil, which resulted in only popcorn getting flung at each other instead of fists. Steph and Jason were just as snarky as ever but it really wouldn’t have been a normal night without expecting it from them.
It was really inevitable that all of them would one by one start to pass out somewhere between the fifth and sixth movie they were on. Dick could see each one of them nod off until it was only him and Tim. “You not going to nap too, Timmy?”
“I could say the same to you. Rest is good for gun wounds.”
“I hear it’s also good for overworked, sleep deprived birdies.” Tim was sitting on the floor in front of the couch Dick was on, which was the perfect position for Dick to ruffle his hair the way all Robins hated, except for maybe Steph.
“Stones in glass houses, Dick,” Tim said as he batted away Dick’s hand.
They fell quiet and just let the sounds of the movie take over.
Well, Dick could only let the silence last for so long. “What’s on your mind, Timmy?” Because he could tell that something was.
Tim didn’t respond immediately, trying to piece together how to say what he wanted. “Does today’s anniversary ever make you sad?”
Dick couldn’t really put a finger on what Tim was getting at. “What do you mean?”
Tim bit his lip, a good sign that whatever this was about, Tim wasn’t too comfortable with it. “I mean, this is the day you made Robin, but you made Robin because… well.” And Dick could definitely get what Tim meant by that.
“Kind of, I guess. But the dates aren’t that closed together.” Dick paused, humming in thought, “And I guess even though I became Robin over something terrible, I’d never give up what came from it.” Dick’s hand found Tim’s hair again and this time it wasn’t pushed away.
Tim aimed a small smile at him before quickly hiding it. “I still have pictures. Of when you were Robin.”
“Oh I know you do. Of both me and Jay. Our most dedicated fanboy.” Tim blushed bright pink at that.
“It’s nice to look at them every once in a while. It’s nice to see where it all started.” Dick couldn’t help but feel a little sentimental when Tim put it like that. “Seriously though, what were those shorts. I know the costume was a homage to your Flying Graysons leotard but you had to have realized it was a bad idea at some point.” And there went the sentimentality.
Dick’s hair rubbing quickly grew closer to a noogie which Tim struggled against but mostly laughed through. “It was a good idea at the time and I stand by it.” Dick managed to pull him onto the couch and it turned into just a hug as they both just giggled, trying their best not to wake everyone else.
“Hey Dick,” Tim said once his giggles managed to die down.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. For everything.”
Dick wanted to correct him. That it should be him thanking all of them for everything they gave him. Tim’s earnest look stopped him short and he settled to just hug him harder.
Dick had to admit that with most of his family surrounding him, all at peace for once in their lives, nothing really felt more right than this.