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The air is thick between them as they stand waiting for the elevator to arrive. Dick is still bleeding sluggishly from the gash in his hand where moments before he had (stupidly, very very stupidly) tried to catch a very sharp blade from swinging down and slashing at Jason. They had hastily wrapped a bandage around the wound, wiping it with a sterilizer using the few field supplies Jason had in his jacket, so Dick was going to be fine.
Well, fine physically.
Emotionally?
With the way the anger was rolling off of Jason like a tidal wave?
Dick wasn’t too sure how he’d fare post-blow out.
The elevator doors slid open with a Ding! and the two vigilantes entered, Jason slamming the main floor button with his red helmet he was holding. Sure they could’ve grappled down the side of the building, but in the aftermath it only took one glare from Jason for Dick to know he would want to have Words and the elevator was the best spot for privacy from prying bat ears. Tim, Steph, Damian and Bruce would meet them downstairs after they cleaned up, eager to avoid being in the blast radius.
They begin to descend, the light in the elevator illuminating the floor counting down slowly.
15... 14… 13... 12…
Jason waited until they hit the 8th floor to punch the emergency stop button, immediately halting the elevator car. He spoke into his comm briefly, letting the others know they were ok and were going dark for a few minutes, then finally turned to Dick and ripped off his domino.
Quickly Dick followed, sensing the need to see Jason’s eyes properly.
“I’m so-”
“What kind of dumbass, hare-brained, stupid motherfucking ideas do you have in that head of yours that you thought that that was ok? I’d question if your brain was working right if I thought you had one in the first place after a stunt like that. Seriously Dick. Do we need to have a talk? Is something going on? Because this just isn’t like you, and I won’t work with a fuckhead who acts like that.”
All Dick could do was wince at every barb, knowing Jason was right. Hell, even Dick couldn’t answer what he was thinking, because honestly? He wasn’t. He just saw the flash of light glinting off the metal sword, raised and aiming at Jason, and he acted. Usually he had better reflexes, especially in a fight, and knew better than to throw himself in front of others to save them.
Most of the time.
Ok, some of the time. Sue him for caring, so he has a streak of self-sacrificial tendencies, so what? It hasn’t bit him in the ass too hard so far.
Although, looking a Jason now, he might have to rescind that thought. Jason was definitely going to chomp down on his ass and eat him for dinner, and not in the fun way Dick wanted him to.
“I know, Jay, and I’m sorry. You’re right, you’re so right and I’m an idiot and I shouldn’t’ve done that,” Dick pleads.
“You are an idiot. Do you see this? This right here?” Jason grabs at his jacket, shoving the leather at Dick’s face. “This fucking jacket is reinforced, that blade would have done nothing to me, and instead you had to be the hero and spill your blood unnecessarily.”
Oh, ok, that does make it a bit worse. Dick didn’t realize Jason had updated his jacket. He really wasn’t in trouble.
There isn’t anything Dick can really say at this point, but to apologize again.
Jason huffs, putting his fists on his hips and turning away from Dick. He needs to take a moment, take a breath before he gets too worked up. Dick notices this, know to give Jason space to regulate his emotions.
It’s quiet for a second. Then Jason, softly, barely loud enough to hear, asks, “Do you trust me?”
Dick feels taken aback. “Trust you? Jason. Of course I do. With my life, with every part of me.” He steps up closer to Jason, hand raising to reach out to Jason. It hovers for a second, nearly touching Jason’s arm. Just as Dick hesitates, starting to drop his hand again, Jason turns back to him.
He looks down at the outstretched hand. Looks back up at Dick and grabs his hand. “Then I need you to trust that I will be ok. I can handle myself.”
Jason wraps his other hand around Dick’s, both of Jason’s hands now cupping Dick’s hand gently. He starts lightly rubbing his thumb up and down Dick’s palm, Dick realizing he reached out with his injured hand and Jason is running his thumb along the cut.
“I can’t have you hurting yourself for me,” Jason says.
Dick’s shoulder slump, tension bleeding out of him. “Jason…”
“Dick. I can’t watch you get hurt because of me. I couldn’t lose you like that. It would ruin me.”
The sheer emotion is making Jason choke up and Dick can feel the slight tremor in his hands. Dick hangs his head down.
“I promise I didn’t mean to. I saw him coming to attack you, and I couldn’t see that either. See you get hurt, not again. And I know I sometimes throw myself into situations where I get hurt when it could have been avoided-” Dick glances up and sees the Look Jason is sending him and winces. “I know, and I’m working on it, I’ll work on it even harder. For you. Anything for you.”
Jason stares into Dick’s eyes, searching them as though he was gazing straight into Dick’s soul. He seems to read the truth in them because he sighs and drops their hands down, still holding tight onto Dick. “I believe you. Thank you.”
A small smile graces Dick’s face, heart feeling full. The conversation had gone much better than he expected, which only spoke to the work they both had put in to getting better. They knew it was unreasonable to make promises they couldn’t fully keep, getting hurt and especially getting hurt to save each other is part of the job, unfortunately. What they can do, what Dick can do is become more aware of the times he tries to sacrifice himself for others and think through his actions and their consequences more.
Something between them shifts, the air becoming charged. They’ve had this conversation, in all kinds of variations and levels of anger and hurt from both sides, many times before. This time they were more open, open and honest.
Jason steps closer to Dick, now close enough to share the air between them. They’ve also been here before. Neither have been able to find the courage to take the next step though.
It seems this time wouldn’t be any different. Jason turns away from Dick with a soft exhale, turning towards the elevator panel to remove the emergency stop. Just as he does so Dick feels a slight panic, the awareness that it’s now or never overwhelmingly rushing through him. The same feeling he had earlier, but now he’s fairly certain the end result will be a much happier one.
Dick grabs the collar of Jason’s jacket and pulls him back to face him, then without another wasted second Dick leans up and kisses Jason.
A surprised noise rises out of Jason’s throat. He doesn’t hesitate, the tense dam breaking between them and Jason frantically grabs onto Dick’s face to deepen the kiss with a deeper moan. Dick melts into Jason, tongue pushing into Jason’s mouth, licking up against his lips.
“Ohhh, fuck,” Jason breaks for air a few seconds later, now red and panting.
The rough sound of his voice goes straight to Dick’s cock starting to harden already. Dick pulls Jason back, lips pressing hard and sucking on Jason’s tongue that is now exploring Dick’s mouth.
This time Dick is the one that moans as Jason wraps one arm around Dick’s waist and pulls him fully flush against Jason’s body, hand gripping onto his back. They grind up against each other and Dick can feel Jason similarly getting hard against him too.
“Fuck, baby, just like that,” Jason says as Dick kisses down his jaw before returning to his mouth.
They’re still making out, rubbing against each other, Dick’s hands trying to grab onto the back of Jason’s jacket to get more friction, when unbeknownst to them the elevator doors open.
Dick’s moan is interrupted with an awkward cough.
Jason and Dick break apart immediately, rushing to opposite sides of the elevator, blushing furiously and panting hard.
“Oh, heyyy guyyys!” Dick says, not able to make eye contact with the rest of the family that were waiting outside of the elevator door. Bruce can’t seem to look right at them, Tim is pretending to not fully pay attention messing around with his phone, Steph looks 5 seconds from screeching, and Damian looks like he’s ready to attack.
That more than anything helps Dick get back online once he notices. Damian’s glare at Jason is telling; Tim reaches an arm around Damian’s shoulders, subtly holding him back.
“Everything’s clean upstairs, it’s time to go back to the Cave. We’ll see you there,” Bruce says, no question about the check-ins everyone needs to make back at the Batcave. All said that was probably the best reaction they could’ve hoped for, although Dick was under no illusions that that was the end of it. Bruce was probably planning his individual and group lectures for them both on his way home.
Dick and Jason awkwardly leave the elevator. As Dick passes Steph she subtly holds out her hand down low for a high five, which Dick gratefully gives her, smirked at her. She was the one to sit through multiple hours of Dick going on and on about Jason and knew his crush on Jason well. The ‘Good job’ went unsaid as it didn’t need saying.
His other hand, the injured hand, is nudged by something else. Dick looks over and sees Jason, adamantly staring forward as they walk down the hallway out of the building, but the blush still gracing his cheeks gives him away. It’s Jason’s hand that nudged Dick’s, so Dick wraps them together, interlocking their fingers and squeezing briefly.
Jason looks at Dick and Dick smiles, soft and safe, as Jason squeezes back.
(Dick ignores Tim taking a picture of them from behind, mumbling to himself about how mad Cass is going to be that she missed this. Later on he’ll ask for the picture so he can frame and keep it. Jason will smile and scoff in fake insult at the picture on the bedside table, then lean down to kiss Dick through their smiles.)