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Dick was pouting. Or the nearly-adult equivalent.
Jason was delighted .
“So,” he said again, a huge smile on his face. “You need my help?”
Dick glared at him. “Would you please stop? I’m just asking you to re-read my essay.”
“So, you need my help,” pointed Jason again.
Dick didn’t answer right away; instead, they stayed glaring at each other and refusing to be the first to look away.
Jason was the first one to break, because Dick had an impressive glare, even scarier than Bruce’s - definitely on Alfred level. Impressive. But Jason would not lose completely today.
“Oh, come on! You could say you need my help just for once, you know!” He was now the one pouting, arms crossed on his chest, but it was all part of his tactic. He knew he was cute like that, and adults often fell for it. His brother, way less, but he could still try.
Dick cocked an eyebrow before sighing. “ Fine . Jase, I need your help with this essay. Could you please help me?”
“That didn’t sound very sincere,” noticed Jason. His brother sent him a pointed glance. “Buuuut that will be enough. Give me that.”
Dick took his essay out of his folder and gave it to Jason. He looked over and scrunched his nose. “Dude, I just read the first line and there’s already, like, three different faults here.”
“First, English is not my first language, and second, I wrote it last night, alright?”
“Okay, okay!” Jason raised his arms in surrender. He may not have known this about his brother, but he was aware it wasn’t something you should mock. Besides, he was pretty sure he had heard Dick speaking more languages than he could name, so. Yeah. “I’m not judging, I swear.”
Dick sighed before his shoulders dropped. “Sorry. I’m a little tense, but I shouldn’t take it on you.”
Jason shrugged. “Oh, you didn’t. It’s alright.” He hesitated a second. “Something going on?”
Dick looked at him. His gaze was intense, hard to hold for a long time - his blue eyes were searching, looking in his very soul for an answer to a question he didn’t know he had asked. Then, he tilted his head a little and smiled.
“It’s alright. I got it, don’t worry.”
Jason huffed but didn’t ask for more - Dick would tell him if he wanted to.
“Can I write on the paper?” asked Jason instead.
“Yeah, go with it. I want to rewrite it better anyway.”
“Nice .”
Jason took a red pen and immediately started scribbling on the paper, striking words and revising sentences. It was oddly fun to do - he would never dare to correct a book even if some things weren’t hitting right for him, but correcting his big brother’s essay on a classic of literature? That was definitely something he liked to do. Too bad Dick was on his way to graduation and would probably not need his help anymore - it was already a lot that he asked for it in the first place. It was also nice to have his brother recognizing his strengths. More than nice - he wasn’t sure which word he’d attribute to the feeling growing inside of him, but he liked it.
Dick was on his laptop, now, waiting for him to finish. He typed quickly, at a rhythm that seemed nearly impossibly fast for Jason.
“So,” Jason started, twenty whole minutes later, the essay covered in red before him. “I finished.”
Dick glanced at the paper and grimaced. “Well, that doesn’t look good.”
“Nah, it’s pretty good, you have the whole idea and good arguments, it’s just… I think you used at least five different languages there. How much sleep did you have before writing this?”
Dick shrugged before taking his essay back. “I’m actually not sure.”
“It’s just a lot of wrong words or sentences who don't make sense or things like that. But the rest is pretty good.” Because, obviously, Dick was good at school too.
Was there something he wasn’t good at? Because Jason still hadn’t found anything. It was awe-inducing and frustrating at the same time. The worst part was that Dick didn’t even seem aware of that - he was just doing everything as if it was effortless and without realizing no one could do the same.
Stupid big brother.
“Thanks, Little Wing.” Dick raised his head and met his gaze, a little smile on his face. “It’s going to save me a lot of time.”
Jason tried really hard not to blush at the compliment. He wasn’t sure he had succeeded. “You’re welcome.” And then, he added, “I think you know too many languages,” because he couldn’t leave it at that.
Dick snorted. “Probably.”
He started to work on his essay once again, and Jason went back to reading like he was doing before Dick interrupted him. The silence was nice - the company too. Jason really didn’t mind.
At one point of time, Alfred came by to give them snacks and drinks. With a full tea-pot. They still hadn’t finished it, despite both of them drinking tea. On the other hand, the snacks were devoured rather quickly.
It was when Bruce came to check up on them that everything went to hell. Because, of course, Dick and Jason couldn’t pretend to go along when Bruce was around - it was just too funny to see him trying to get them to like each other when there was really no need for it. So, as soon as they heard Bruce’s footsteps, they immediately shared a glance, dropped everything they were doing to jump at each other with a battle cry. Or, more accurately, Jason jumped at Dick who caught him with an amused grin and mock-fell on the floor.
“You’re a dick !” yelled Jason, because he was really original.
His brother ate his laughter before adding to the fake silly fight. “And you’re a little shit!”
Instead of trying to really fight him, Dick started to tickle him on his side, exactly where he was ticklish. Jason had to suppress his laugh the best he could, and his brother, damn him , grinned even more.
“Stooop,” he finally let out, real tears at his eyes with how much he was stopping himself.
In the hallway, Bruce’s footstep had stopped. For a second here, Jason thought he would try to intervene; but instead, just like they expected, their father turned around and his footstep quickly faded away. He was probably in one of his “I don’t want to deal with this” mood.
They immediately stopped moving, Jason still half-lying on Dick, his brother’s hand resting on his back instead of tickling his sides. They looked at each other, before bursting out in laughter.
“Good work today,” said Dick when their laughs started dying slowly but surely.
Jason felt the warmth coming back in his stomach. It was agreeable, to be so fully accepted by his brother. To be - on the same page, and understanding each other with a simple look, and sometimes argue but never stop loving each other. It was like he had missed having a connection like this one during his whole life and just discovered it now.
“Thanks,” he finally let out.
Dick smiled, before kissing his forehead. Jason smiled too, in contentment.
Before squeaking as Dick went back to tickle him, this terrible and awful big brother .