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Walking around Wayne manor, it felt too grand, too massive, too much. The manor felt like getting lost in the grocery store but without the comfort of eventually being able to find your mom. The one comfort Jason had was that Dick still shared a room with him. So he knew that no matter how big the palace felt, he had his emotional support talon beside him as he slept. Jason turned over in his bed to play with Dick’s hair as he slept. He knew it was weird, but he liked being able to look over and see that he was safe. Jason knew he wasn’t rational considering Dick could defend himself better than Jason could. It didn’t change the fact that he liked the sight of his little brother’s chest breathing.
Dick blinked his eyes open at Jason as he played with his hair. He signed ‘J’ sleepily and tilted his head.
Jason stopped his idle hands and stretched his arms. “Morning, sleepyhead. Welcome to the land of the living.”
‘Get up?’ Dick signed.
“Nah, Money bags will come and get us once we have to be up. Besides, we’ve got our own tv, toys, bookshelf and a computer in here. We don’t need to go anywhere, Dickiebird.”
Dick nodded and shrugged.
“By the way, the next time you hide that long, at least take me with you. I don’t want to be alone with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.”
Dick thought for a moment, he didn’t know how to say what he wanted to in sign. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat like he remembered someone else doing and spoke. “Mhm.” He murmured aloud. “But not the vents, that’s too tight.” He hoped that Jason wouldn’t expect or want him to speak all the time. He wasn’t ready for that quite yet.
“Holy fuck, you spoke. Okay, okay no vents. Why are you speaking now?” Jason tried to hide the fact that he was over the moon. He didn’t mind learning sign, in fact he really liked it. It felt like he and Dick spoke their own language, but hearing him speak felt like cloud nine. He got up from the bed quickly.
“I-I didn’t know how to say it in sign.” He sighed. He was beginning to feel like he did something wrong.
“Keep speaking, I like your voice.” Jason murmured. He didn’t want to press him, but the sound of his small voice was something he had wanted to hear for weeks, now. He liked hearing Dick say his name, but something more had Jason awestruck. “Thanks for choosing me to speak to.” He added. “Why’d you pick me?”
Dick tilted his head and his face softened. He didn’t know how to explain it other than he felt comfortable around Jason. Over the last few weeks, Jason had become his rock, his fortitude. “Comfy.” He murmured.
“I’m comfortable with you too.” Jason grinned as he got up from their bed. Dick was the first person he had chosen to be in his life. Jay had friends at school but he always kept them at an arm’s length, they couldn’t come over to hang out, they didn’t understand the books he read or why he had so many absences to take care of his mom. Dick was his first friend that saw all of him.
Dick got out of bed as well. The former talon hadn’t realized how much he had gone on autopilot, with his choice to be non verbal. It had never been a choice with the court. With the court there were no choices. But ever since he left, he was of his own will. The talking to anyone with power over him is what still felt wrong.
“Are you talking now? Like permanently?” Jason tried to hide the excitement from his voice. He wished Selina were there too, she was the only person in the world who would understand his relief.
Dick contemplated his reply. He didn’t want to disappoint his chosen brother, but he also knew his own boundaries. “Maybe to you, but not to everyone.” He slumped his shoulders. “If no one else is around, we can talk.”
Jason felt warm inside. Dick chose him. The pint sized feral cat wanted him. “Fair, fair. I won’t say anything to Bruce or Alfred, not even Selina. What do you want to do, Dickie?” Jason looked around the room at all it offered for them to do. If he could pick out an activity it would be talking to Dick until Bruce or Alfred came to get them, but he wasn’t needy enough to propose something like that.
He bit down on the outside of his lips. “Don’t freak out but-“
Jason’s impatience got the best of him. “That’s a great fucking way to start a sentence.”
“We could go up to the rooftop.” He pointed at the window. “I did it last night.” He spoke at rapid speed, since he was antsy about how his brother would respond.
“What? When?” Jason’s blue eyes practically popped out of his head.
“You were sleeping.” Dick often did things while Jay slept, talons didn’t need nearly as much sleep as humans. Jason just hadn’t noticed because he either had stayed up as well because he couldn’t sleep or because he slept too hard, since he was used to the sound of sleeping near train tracks.
“What the fuck? Wake a guy next time.” Excuse him, he had FOMO (Fear of missing out). Jason’s protective nature also didn’t like the idea of Dick falling off the roof while he was off in dreamland.
Dick shook his head. “You never sleep well.” Jason did not need his sleep schedule or lack thereof.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you noticed.” Jason frowned. Dickiebird wasn’t supposed to be worried about him, he was the protector. Dick was only allowed to show worry through cuddling. “C’mon, let’s go up to the roof.”
Dick grinned and ran over to the window. He unlatched the window and pulled it up. He climbed onto the windowsill and stepped on the rooftop. He sat down in the corner of the roof by the chimney. “Hoodie?” He asked. Dick liked the way that Jason’s hoodies smelt like him, went down to his knees and that he could hide himself in his hood.
Jason grinned from ear to ear. He loved the feeling of being needed. “Sure thing.” Jason slipped on a hoodie himself and grabbed Dick one too. He climbed up and joined Dick on the roof. “I can see why you came up here.” He handed him the hoodie.
Dick nodded and put it on. He didn’t feel like talking anymore. He spoke for so long that morning since he could see how happy it made Jason but he found it exhausting himself. He laid his head on Jason’s shoulder.
Jason wrapped his arm around him and hummed. The two boys watched the sunrise over the horizon.
Around 7 that morning Bruce knocked on their door but neither of them heard over the sound of the wind on the roof. He frowned and knocked repeatedly. He would’ve assumed that they were sleeping; if he hadn’t seen the light underneath the door. He presumed it was from the bedside lamp since it wasn’t bright enough to be the lights in the room.
“Chums, I didn’t hear an answer. So I’m going to head in if that’s okay. Speak up if it’s not.” He waited a moment before opening the door. Bruce frowned once he saw an empty bed and the window was left open.
He walked over to the window to inspect the evidence to see if they had attempted to run away, though the alarms had not gone off. He didn’t see anything alarming when he looked down but as he turned his head, he caught sight of boys on the roof. “Chums? My boys? Why are you on the roof?” He tried to hide the panic from his voice, in case they felt his fear and began to panic themselves.
“It was Dick’s idea.” Jason shrugged. “We watched the sunrise.”
Dick gave him a small grin without showing teeth and nodded.
“Please get off the roof before one of you gets hurt or Alfred kills all three of us. Slowly!” He added.
Jason looked at Dick. “You heard him, Dickiebird. You first.”
Dick gave Jason a look that said, ‘Why me?’
“I’m older.”
Dick smirked and signed. ‘I’m fifteen.’
“Yeah, in dog years. Get down, pip squeak.”
Dick rolled his eyes and turned on his stomach to shimmy down the roof. Once he was close enough to the windowsill, Bruce picked him up so he could get him inside safely. Dick wrapped his arms around B’s neck and clung.
“Chum, you gotta let go so I can get Jay down.” Bruce chuckled and kissed the top of his head.
Dick clung tighter. He knew it was silly but something about Bruce’s presence felt familiar and warm to Dick. It reminded him of being held by his father, whom he was starting to forget.
“Please Chum, for Jaylad?” He pleaded.
Jason slipped down the roof and entered in on his own. “For what?”
Bruce turned surprised to see him. “Oh Jaylad, it’s a nickname I thought of for you. I thought you would need help coming inside.”
“So many damn nicknames.” Jason murmured and shut the window. He turned back to face Bruce. “He’s going to cling on to you for a while, now. Selina called it housecat mode.”
“Housecat mode?” Bruce tilted his head.
“98 percent of the time, he’s a feral cat but whenever he’s cuddling, Selina dubbed it Housecat mode.” He shrugged and put his hands in the pocket of his hoodie to warm up. “Are we banned from the roof?”
“Not quite, Jaylad. Just grab me first and I’ll go with you next time.” He ruffled Jason’s hair.
“That seems fair.” Jason nodded.
“Let’s go get some breakfast, chums. I bet Alfred has something delicious prepared.”
“M’kay. He didn’t seem very happy last night that Dick only eats chips and granola.”