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When Dick heard that Steph, Cass, and Babs were going to have a girl's night without him, he flipped. Like, he literally flipped off of the rooftop he was perched on to rush back to the manor.
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I like the Manor Library. It's the quietest place in the entire Wayne Manor. At least, normally it is. But of course, today, Tim commandeered the library for one of his school projects. And, of course, when Tim is doing a school project, so is Duke. And when Me, Tim, and Duke are the only others home and are all congregated in the library, Damian has to be here too. I try to focus on my book, it's a recommendation from Dick, and, not that I'd tell him so, but I was actually enjoying it, until these idiots showed up, and started yelling at each other in five different levels of nerd language I can't even be bothered to understand right now.
After barely five minutes, I give up, slamming my book shut and getting up out of my chair, right as Dick suddenly bursts into the library.
"We should have a guy's night out!" He announces, to which I just roll my eyes. If he thinks I'm gonna agree, he can go suck a bag of dicks.
"No." I say firmly, before promptly pushing past Dick to go to my bedroom.
I lay down on my bed, cracking my book open again as I return to reading. Normally I don't like reading in my room. Or even just being in my room for anything that isn't sleeping. It just feels... empty, I guess? But when you can't get peace and quiet anywhere else, a guys gotta adapt.
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I wish I could say it was my first time waking up tied to a chair in the pitch black, however, I was the second Robin, which means that I've been kidnapped more times than Bruce has hugged me. Kidding. Bruce is a big hugger, and I've only been kidnapped like twenty times.
"Just so you guys know, this isn't going to end well. You should just let me go, before you end up with a bullet between your eyes." I mutter, almost not wanting them to hear me, and to give me an extra reason to shoot them. I hear shuffling and footsteps, and then the bag is yanked off of my face, as light floods my vision causing me to squint at the dark face in front of me,
"Y'wouldn't really shoot us, would ya Jay?" the figure says, almost sounding spooked. As my eyes finally adjust to the light, Dick's face comes into view, and I feel my shoulder's slacken.
"Dick?! What the hell?!" I yell, making him flinch and stand upright with a broad grin,
"You, my brother in Christ, have been bro-napped." He beams, eliciting some groans from nearby,
"Yeah, no, I'm good," I mutter rolling my eyes, as I stand up, letting the ropes that tied me fall away, as I slip my pocket knife back into the pocket hidden in my sleeve. Dick immediately falters, seeing how quick I escaped his ropes,
"Wait! But we're forcing you, you can't just leave!" He tries to block my path, trying his best to look tough. I just laugh,
"Yeah, I can. I'm not paid enough to deal with your shit." I mutter, deciding to sidestep Dick, rather than push him. I can practically feel the excited energy leaving his soul, and honestly, it is a little amusing,
"Oh, c'mon Jason, he's planned the entire day, just hear him out." says a third voice, and I look over at Tim, who is standing in the corner next to Duke and Damian.
"I'll pass." I roll my eyes, heading for the door again, when Damian speaks this time,
"You read that book, 'The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo', right?" and I raise an eyebrow at him
"Yes?"
"The author, Taylor Jenkins Reid, is holding a book signing in Gotham Library," Damian says plainly, which makes me falter. After a second I turn around to properly face Damian,
"I know. I can't afford it." I mutter slightly, to which Dick perks up, joining back into the conversation,
"Yeah, well, I bought you a ticket!" he says eagerly, making me falter. He... did? Fuck, those are like 80 bucks... and... I do really want to go... I pause for a second before raising an eyebrow at my other brothers,
"What's he promised you lot?" I ask,
"We'd stop by Gotham Animal Shelter," says Damian,
"He's going to buy some components I need for a project I'm working on," says Tim,
"I'm... the only one he isn't bribing. I'm the only one who actually wants to hang out, unlike you horde of introverts." Duke's voice drops to a mutter at the end of his sentence, to which I roll my eyes.
"Right..." Dick steps forwards, clutching my arm and suddenly tugging back and forth on my arm as he whines,
"C'mon little winggg.... pleeaaaaaseeeee.... pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepl-"
"Oh dear God, shut up." I snap, and Dick quickly shuts up, frowning at me with his biggest puppy eyes.
"Don't you love us, little wing?" he whines.
"No." I speak plainly. It's not true, of course. I love my brothers, yes, I just wanted to hurt Dick. Though maybe I... overstepped it this time. Dick looks practically heartbroken, and I know the fucker is just conning me, but damn if those heartbroken puppy eyes aren't convincing. I groan, rolling my eyes, "Ugh, fine, but I won't enjoy it." and Dick immediately lights up again, hopping slightly,
"Yes! Knew you loved us! C'mon guys!" He grabs my house, and yanks me out of, what I can now identify as Alfred's toolshed, and towards the garage. This is going to be a long day...
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The first stop on Dick's ridiculous list for the day, was ice cream, apparently. He managed to find this little hole-in-the-wall gelato in Crime Alley, which was strange I've never come across it before. The seats were a bit murky, definitely second-hand, and mine was stained with something that I do not want to figure out what it is. But we sit down, and Dick goes to the counter to order for everyone. Duke is the first to talk, asking Tim about Bernard and Conner. He probably already knows about Tim's love life, what with them being in the same class and whatnot, but Duke, being the most sociable out of the group (besides Dick, who isn't here to start a topic), and he's usually pretty good at picking up a conversation.
"Oh, uhm, it's fine. Kon brought me and Bernard some space rocks after his last mission to Mars with Miss M." Tim shrugs casually,
"Scoria?" I ask, not wanting to seem too interested, and when Tim shoots me a weird look, I try again, "Conglomerate?" and Tim seems to pick up on what I'm asking finally,
"Oh, no, it was Shale." I nod slightly,
"Mm, nice." and there's a slight pause, before Duke picks the conversation up slightly,
"What about you, Jason?" he asks and I hesitate...
"Uh... I... like Scoria?" and Duke shakes his head,
"I meant, how's your love life?" wow, way to get personal, Duke. My shoulders tense slightly, and I hunch over, before sighing,
"I don't know... difficult?" Dick finally returns, setting bowls of gelato in front of everyone. Of course, I ordered a Strawberry shortbread ice cream, my favourite. Dick got matcha ice cream, Duke got lemon sorbet, and Tim got pistachio.
"You wanna talk about it?" Dick asks as he takes his seat, and I shrug slightly,
"Not really." I half expect Dick to pout about it, but he actually just... nods and eats his ice cream. Hm. After a second, I sigh. "I think I like Roy." and immediately Dick is choking, whilst Tim and Duke seem ecstatic. Shit, I always forget Dick's friends with Roy too...
"Oh! You're bi?" Tim asks, seemingly a little excited, and I nod, "That's cool! Was Roy like... your awakening?" Dick sputters some more, and I have to think about it. I mean... I guess I never realised I was bi until after I realised I like Roy, but...
"Yes." I finally answer, shovelling a large spoonful of ice cream into my mouth, hoping it'll cool down my cheeks a little. Dick finally manages to clear his throat of the air he was choking on, he starts,
"Wait, waitwaitwaitwait, Roy? Like Roy Roy? As in trucker hat, single dad Roy Harper? You have a crush on Roy Harper?" I shrug casually, ignoring the wave of heat I feel as Dick refers to Roy as my 'crush'.
"Yeah?" I raise an eyebrow at Dick, who draws blank.
"...Roy?"
"Yes." Dick looks as if he's about to have an aneurysm. It's a little bit funny, honestly. "And what about you, huh? None of us know a thing about your love life." Dick pauses before shrugging,
"I'm dating Wally," Dick says as if it was the most casual bomb he'd ever dropped. Tim is the first to catch up,
"WHAT?!" he screeches, causing a few heads in the gelato to turn our way,
"what what?" Dick asks back, looking at Tim in confusion,
"How long have you been dating, and how long have you not been telling us you've been dating?" Duke asks,
"Oh. Like... two months."
"TWO MONTHS??!!" Tim screeches,
"oh, nice," I mumble as I eat my ice cream, ignoring the look of betrayal on Tim's face. "I'm telling Bruce." of course, I won't actually tell Bruce, it's just funny to watch the colour drain from Dick's face,
"NO!" he screeches and I just laugh.
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The next stop on Dick's list was the shelter he promised to take Damian to. It's a small place but with enough animals to make any animal-obsessed child go crazy over it. Dick even triple-checked that this was a cruelty-free no-killing shelter, which Damian seemed pleased about. But, eventually, standing around with Tim and Duke watching Damian play with the puppies gets boring, so I wander off on my own.
The kennels here seem adequate. The animals are certainly comfortable... and... this dog...
I don't really know how I ended up in this wing of the shelter, with this dog in a tucked-away kennel... with a laminated sign on the door that reads just one word.
"Aggressive"
He's clearly on the older side, with grey hairs scattering his face, and scruff. He has a large scar over his left eye, and he's got a chip in his ear. He sits at the back of his kennel, curled up, and eyeing me wearily.
Normally, I'd listen to the sign, and leave, but something about this dog just seems so... familiar.
I slowly crouch down as I approach his kennel, and he lifts his head to watch me,
"Hey there, buddy..." I coo, as he bares his teeth, but I don't back away, "Shhh, it's okay... I won't hurt you, buddy..." he growls slightly, as I remain crouched in front of his kennel.
I try to make myself small, but I'm pretty sure that it doesn't work all that well, considering I'm... a little bit big...
I carefully reach my hand through the bar, then stop just short of him.
I know one thing about dogs, and that's that if they don't want to be pet, they won't be. I can't force him to trust me. I have to earn that.
I have to let him come to me.
The dog sniffs my hand skeptically, before giving my fingertip a little nibble. It's not a threatening nibble, just a 'Do you have food?' kind of nibble, and he's so gentle with his mouth as he does so. I can already tell one thing about this dog.
He is not aggressive.
Just misunderstood.
I understand what that feels like.
It takes a while, but eventually, he seems to grow less wary, as he nuzzles his nose into my palm, and I let myself pet him, just gently scratching his forehead, as he squints his eyes contently, when one of the shelter workers runs up to me,
"Hey! You shouldn't be near him, he's aggressive." I just glare at them warily, before returning my attention to the dog,
"Only if you keep treating him like he is." and she just draws a blank as she stares at me, confused,
"What? Sir, you should back away..." she speaks warily, and I just narrow my eyes at her.
Heh.
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Dick's third stop on 'Bro's-night' (despite it still only being 3 pm) was thankfully the library where the book signing was happening.
We all walk down the street towards the library together, and I can feel the weird looks my brothers are all giving me.
Or, not me, but rather the dog at my heels.
"I can't believe you just... adopted a dog. Just like that..." Dick mumbles slightly, and I shrug, as I look down at the happy dog trotting along beside me.
"what? I couldn't just leave him... If they always show him off as aggressive and fence him away from the customers, then nobody else is going to want him. Besides, he's just little guy, it's fine."
"Jace, he's a German Shepherd. He's the furthest thing from a 'little guy'." Duke says with a shrug. I just roll my eyes,
"Whatever." I quicken my pace slightly as I spot the library ahead, hoping to avoid their criticism.
"Will he even be allowed in the library?" Tim mumbles, and I slow back down to walk in line with my brothers,
"Oh, I... never thought of that." I look down at the dog trotting along still, "Probably not..." Well... this is a problem. As we come up to the library, I come up with a quick decision and... walk straight past.
"Jason, the... library's here, dude," Duke says, looking confused,
"I can't leave him out here on his own, this is Gotham We can just go to the next place on Dick's list, it's fine." they all exchange looks, before Damian sighs and grabs Tim's arm,
"Todd, go get your damn book signed. Me and Tim will accompany Jason Jr to the park." he huffs. Jason Jr?
"I am not calling him Jason Jr," I mutter, as Damian snatches away the leash, and then promptly shoos me towards the library. I chuckle softly to myself, as me, Dick, and Duke head into the library. I take one look at Tim, Damian, and Jason Jr as they walk away towards the nearest park. God, I can already tell that name is going to stick...
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The fourth spot on Dick's list is thankfully more pet friendly than the library, as we head to a local bar Dick found. We decide to sit outside, as Dick orders a cider, I order beer, whilst Duke and Tim get a coke, and Damian gets a fruit shoot (which he initially complained about, but now he seems rather content with that option).
It's nearly five now, and it's starting to get darker in now. The bar is busy, and a few tables are eating food. We've ordered food too.
Jason Jr is curled up in my lap, and he's definitely a little heavy, but I don't mind. He's just a good boy, after all. Not aggressive. Not aggressive at all.
"What do you think Jason?" Tim asks, and that snaps me out of my thoughts,
"Think of what?" I ask and Dick chuckles,
"Of Father and Kent's relationship." Damian rolls his eyes slightly,
"Oh, they're boning a hundred percent. Why are we talking about them again?" I state matter-of-factly.
"Tim found security footage of Clark leaving the Manor while we were all out of town," Dick shrugs casually, and Tim takes a large swig of his Coke,
"What is it that makes Bats into fast metas?" He mumbles
"Well, Wally can vibrate an-" Dick pauses mid-sentence before chuckling casually "Nevermind." I just put on the biggest shit-eating grin I've ever had the pleasure of wearing,
"No, Dick, go on, what were you going to say?" I taunt, and Dick practically turns bright red,
"What, do you use Wally as like... a human vibrator or something?" Tim mumbles, making Dick turn brighter, as Duke gasps and covers Damian's ears,
"Tim! Child present!" Duke screeches a little higher pitch than he intended, and Damian just rolls his eyes, letting Duke cover his ears. Tim perks up slightly, taking that as a challenge,
"Fuck fuck shit dick pussy... ass!!" God, they're all idiots.
But... they're my family. I notice Dick look over at me as Tim continues to taunt Duke, while Damian remains unphased, sipping his fruit shoot, and after a second, he stands up suddenly, and grabs everyone by their scruffs, pulling them over the table for Dick to wrap his arms around us all in a surprise group hug. Normally, when it comes to hugs, I'm the last to join in. But... well, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't enjoyed today, and so, to everyone's surprise, I hug Dick back, Duke, Damian and Tim joining in not long after.
My family.
I love my family.