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Dick stared at his phone, his finger tapping the side of it in thought. His doctors, and Alfred, had fretted over him during his stay in the hospital. Checking and double checking on his vitals and his medication. He put up with it, he’s learnt that the more he cooperated with doctors, the faster he could leave.
Unfortunately for him, he had had to stay another night but that allowed Alfred to go back to Bristol to set up the manor for his short absence. Dick could imagine the old butler prepping easy to reheat meals for the family; for Damian, Tim and Bruce. Maybe for Steph as well.
God, he missed his sisters. He misses them like a missing limb, his heart aches for Steph, who’s taken Tim’s side and stayed away, and for Cass, who refuses to come back from Hong Kong, but who still checks in with Bruce and Steph. She never picked up when he called.
He was going home today, with a clean bill of health and more pills and instructions, which, completely fair but still, ugh. He could only hope that it doesn’t mess with his body too much, all these medications and the acclimatising of his body to the new doses was so exhausting.
His finger hovered over Bruce’s contact. He should call him, thank him for paying the ransom and for helping with the hospital administration and health insurance. Dick still hesitated. He should call him, at least before he left the hospital but the thought of talking to his dad him was too much. He felt the words lodge themselves in his throat, his chest tight and uncomfortable.
A few deep breaths and he decided that no, he would not call Bruce. A text will do.
Dick
Hey B, thanks for taking care of things. I really appreciate it.
He read the message once, twice and, decided that that was good enough, sent it off. He was tempted to add that Bruce didn’t have to but refrained. After everything, this was the least he could do. Surprisingly, his phone buzzed with a response soon after.
B-man
Of course. I hope you recover well.
And be good for Alfred during his visit.
Dick snorted. Him? Misbehave with Alfred around? What did Bruce think he was? Insane?
B-man
He’s worried about you. This was a big scare.
The warm amusement curdled into something sour, a frown etched itself on his face. Of course, Bruce couldn’t just tell Dick himself that he was worried too.
B-man
Damian was beside himself as well. I expect that he will tag along with Alfred.
This is me letting you know.
In other words, he had to hide his new meds and Lucky’s service vest somewhere more secure. Don’t get him wrong, he loves his littlest brother but this wasn’t really something he wanted to deal with so soon after his kidnapping and hospital stay. But he did tell Alfred that Dames was welcome to visit him if he wanted to… Oh well, Dick is nothing if flexible and adaptive.
Dick
Thanks for the heads up
Dick backed out of Bruce’s chat and pulled up Jason’s.
Big Bird
Hey, are you free rn?
Little Wing
No.
Dick huffed, leaning against the hospital bed. Jason had responded immediately and he even added the full stop. Not free Dick’s ass.
Big Bird
Come on Jay
I need your help (╯•﹏•╰)
He saw the three dots pop up before they quickly disappeared. He waited a moment but no other response from his little brother.
Big Bird
Pls
Alfred and Dames are coming to mine today
I need to clean up and hide shit before Little D finds anything
The three dots popped up again and Dick crossed his fingers.
Little Wing
Oh wait
You’re getting out of the hospital today?
Big Bird
Yep, that’s today (ﾉ´ з `)ノ♡
Come on, pls. I really need your help
Little Wing
Fine.
Big Bird
Tysm!!
Lucky’s with me so pls bring a car
I’ll owe you one (´･ᴗ･`)
Little Wing
You definitely do, Dickhead
Be there in 15
Big Bird
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
See you soon, Jay
So, that was one problem addressed and transportation settled, nice. Jason would come with a car since he had Lucky with him, everything he had in a simple duffle bag, one taken from his place by Alfred.
“Ready to get out of here, Mr. Grayson?” one of his usual nurses, Leon, said chipperly. Lucky lopped in after the nurse, bright red vest on display. They had gone out for a potty break while Dick cleared up his things.
“Oh, you have no idea. I am so ready,” Dick laughed, pocketing his phone and accepting the leash. Lucky woofed in greeting, tail wagging sedately.
“Thanks for taking care of Lucky,” he ruffled the dog’s soft ears. His tail wagged faster.
Leon laughed, waving a hand. “It was no trouble at all. He’s just a darling. I’m gonna miss seeing him around!”
They talked a little bit as the nurse made a final check and led Dick and Lucky out to the hospital lobby. He was handed a checkout form to fill in and he was finishing up when he noticed Jason walking through the front doors. He waved happily, giving the form to the front desk before bouncing over to his younger brother, Lucky trotting behind him.
“Jay!” he exclaimed happily.
“Dick!” Jason mimicked, rolling his eyes.
Oh, the little shit.
Dick threw his arms around his taller, broader brother, leaning his weight heavily. Jason growled but he didn’t move away from the hug. Dick tightened his hold, soaking up the affection.
“Okay, enough,” Jason muttered, hands gently pulling against his arms. “Let’s get going, Dickiebird.”
“No,” he wiggled some, his bag hitting his hip at the movement.
“I’ll leave you here then!”
Dick giggled, enjoying the embarrassed flush on his brother’s too red cheeks. Okay, okay, he’s had his fun.
He let him go and the trio left. Dick could only hope that everything would go smoothly.
⋆˚🐾˖°
Jason tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, his eyes focused on the road ahead of him. Well, mostly focused on the road in front of him. They kept straying to his right, taking in the sight of Dick.
His older brother was pale, making the shiner he was sporting stand out starkly, the deep dark purple a stain around his left eye, and he looked a little shaky. He’d noticed the faint tremble of his hands when he went to place his bag in the back, but Jason was a good brother and hadn’t said anything about it.
The trip to Dick’s was smooth and they made good time, arriving there in twenty minutes instead of the typical thirty minutes. They didn’t talk as they went up to the apartment, Lucky dutifully keeping his attention on the older man. Good boy, doing his job so well.
He was actually really glad for the service dog. After learning of Dick’s seizures, and learning of what Bruce, what Batman, made him do, the betrayal of his own golden child made Jason sick to even think about, it was a relief to know immediately that he had an additional warning system. It still sucked that he still had seizures and he could only imagine how infuriating and frustrating it must be; to have to change jobs and cut back on being Nightwing for his own safety, Jason knew he wouldn’t be able to do it himself.
The trio entered the apartment, Dick left his bag hanging on his shoulder as he worked on removing the service dog’s red vest. He quickly folded it up and brought it with him into his bedroom, probably to hide under his mattress. No one would think to check there, obviously.
Jason looked around the place, noting that it was messier than usual. He heaved a deep, weary sigh and rolled up his sleeves. This was for Alfred, not Dick, not Damian, only for Alfred.
Luckily (hah!) Dick came back out, bag and red vest nowhere to be seen, and with the two of them, they managed to get the apartment cleaned up nicely. Dirty laundry was collected and thrown into the machine, dishes were washed, dried and put away and the trash was taken out.
Jason drew the line at vacuuming the place but Dick was well enough to do it himself. Lucky was on the couch with him, tucking his face between his hip and the back of the sofa, hiding away from the big, bad, noisy vacuum.
“For all the good he does, it’s so funny that he doesn’t like the vacuum,” Jason said, petting the poor thing’s furry head.
Dick laughed from the kitchen before the vacuum stopped. “Yeah, it’s one of his weaknesses. The only other one being cheese.”
“Cheese?”
The dog perked up, warm brown eyes flitting between the two men. Dick grinned at him, stowing the vacuum away in the closet.
“Yeah, he loves cheese but he’s a bit sensitive to it.”
Jason looked back at the dog. “Oh my God, don’t tell me he’s lactose intolerant.”
Dick laughed harder.
Jason reached forward and held the dog’s face gently. “Oh you poor thing. That sucks.”
“He’s so gassy after cheese and he won’t accept those lactose free ones as a treat, I tried.”
Before Jason could berate Dick’s poor choice of trying to be a good dog owner and feed fake cheese to his dog, there was a knock on the apartment door. Dick sprung over to the door and there was Damian, holding onto Titus’ leash, and Alfred, each with a stay-over bag and groceries.
“Hey guys, come on in,” Dick welcomed warmly, a bright smile on his face.
Damian walked in and let his monster of a dog lose while Dick helped Alfred with the groceries. The two were talking in the kitchen but Jason was focused on the demon brat who did not look pleased.
“What?” Jason scowled at the younger boy.
“Todd. How is Richard?”
He pursed his lips, eyes darting to Lucky who had hopped off the couch to say hello to Titus. A part of him wanted to come clean to Damian and tell him exactly what was wrong with Dick but he knew that their older brother would not be pleased.
“Eh,” he shrugged his shoulders, pulling himself to sit properly on the sofa, “alright considering what happened.”
“Alright? He was in the hospital for three days, two of which he was not even cognizant. A simple kidnapping should not have resulted in such a long stay,” Damian hissed, his hazel eyes flashing with anger, and fear.
Jason was intimately familiar with masking fear with anger, that it was easier and simpler to feel that way instead of acknowledging the fact that you were scared, especially when it was something you could not control or assist with. He grabbed the youngest and sat him down beside him, ignoring the indignant squawk and the glare afterwards.
“Yeah, usually kidnappers know to stay clear of punching their victim in the face or head but Dickie hadn’t been so lucky this time. Those hits to the noggin left him a bit scrambled and the doctors wanted to be extra sure that he was as alright as can be before they let him go.”
Damian huffed, crossing his arms and leaning further back. It was silent between the two of them and then, quietly, “I do not understand why Father did not visit him in the hospital. This is Richard.”
Ah.
Jason sighed deeply, that was a whole other can of worms he will not be discussing with Damian or the Replacement.
“I’m sure he was busy-”
“He most certainly was not,” Damian said sullenly. “He was pacing constantly in his study, his eyes on his phone for any news from Pennyworth or the hospital, but the hospital never informed him of what was happening.”
“That’s ‘cause Alfred’s Dick’s primary contact person in case of emergencies. It makes sense, especially in our business,” Jason quickly explained. He knew the reason was linked to the last time Dick had Bruce as his primary but this was not the time, and he was so not the person for this. Where was Dick and Alfred? Why were they still in the fucking kitchen??
“But Father-”
“-is a busy man, he’s still running Wayne Enterprises and that means his time is filled with business meetings that don’t allow private phone calls disturbing their office hours. It’s logistics,” Jason said, like the lying liar he is. He’s a Crime Lord, lying was in the job description and he’s very, very good at it.
“Yep, it was a logistical decision. Alfred’s the best and he knows what to do when any one of us ends up in the hospital,” Dick said, walking towards them with a tray of snacks and warm drinks.
Thank fuck, finally.
Jason scooted more to the end of the couch, dragging Damian with him who snarled wordlessly at the manhandling but quietened down real quick when Dick plopped on down next to him. There was a bowl of chips, nuts, m&ms and even sour gummies. Not a single healthy thing was on it.
“What’s all this for?”
Dick slanted a look at Jason, a mischievous grin on his face. It did nothing to soften the black eye. “We’re going to watch Encanto before dinner. And I argued very hard with Alfred to let you two, and me of course, have these wonderful snacks.”
Jason squinted at the older man, ignoring Damian reaching over for the bowl of nuts that had cashews, macadamias, pistachios and pecans (nice!). Jason would have to snatch that sooner rather than later.
“What’s the catch?”
Dick slumped against the back, leaning on Damian in dramatic fashion.
“I have to eat all the fruit he puts in front of me during his stay,” Dick grumbled, shaking his head.
“Oooh, are you sure that’s a good idea? I know how much you hate fruits,” Jason smirked, grabbing a handful of salted nuts from the bowl. Damian tried to flick him but he chose to overlook that, not breaking eye contact with their older brother.
“Ugh, it was the only way. The sacrifices I pull for all of us,” he bemoaned, sliding further down the coach.
“Richard! Enough of this ridiculousness! Pennyworth chooses the best fruits, it should be no problem consuming them these few days.”
Oh, that answered his next question somewhat.
“Jason’ll have to have some fruit too.”
“I do the fuck not!”
“Language, Master Jason!” Alfred admonished from the kitchen. He was probably preparing dinner from the sounds of it.
“Sorry Alfie!” Jason reflexively said before glaring at Dick. “What do you mean I’ll have some fruit?”
“Just some before dinner, gotta counter balance the junk we’re gonna be enjoying right now.”
They stared at each other for a moment before Jason scoffed, plucking the bowl from Damian who decided to go after the sour gummies.
“Ugh, fine. Come on, start the movie then, Dickface.”
Dick huffed, picking up the remote and setting it up.
It was easy to get sucked into the movie, enjoying the songs and the dancing donkeys were the best in Jason’s right opinion, but he also kept an eye on Dick. He noticed that he wasn’t really paying his whole attention to the movie, his eyes either flicking down to watch Damian’s reaction or eyes faraway, lost in thought.
Jason was hit by a wave of melancholy, it was nice to spend time with his brothers but there was one who was missing. And he knew that Tim would not be joining them any time soon… at least, with the way things were currently going. Things needed to change and it absolutely sucks that Jason was the only one who could do it.
This was the perfect time for Tim to reach out to Dick, to check in on him after a Wayne kidnapping and a hospital stay. Unfortunately, Tim wouldn’t. He was still so angry and hurt over what Dick had done and Bruce had done a good job to hide the actual truth.
He watched as Dick dozed off, his eyes slipping shut and his head leaning against Damian’s shoulder. A touching scene with only the stark purple bruise staining it ugly. Jason snuck out his phone and snapped a quick picture. He sent it off to Tim and the girls, adding a little message underneath, “Dick’s out of the hospital. He’s okay.”
He shouldn’t have been disappointed at the lack of response but he was. He didn’t hear back from any of them that night. Or the night after. Or the next night… However, he did hear back from Tim the night after that.
Yelling Timber
Can I call?
Jason stared at the message. This could be related to Dick, but there was also a chance that it wasn’t.
Red Undead
Sure.
Yelling Timber
I can call you later if you’re busy
Red Undead
Just call. I’m free
His phone lit up with Tim’s caller ID.
“Tim-tam.”
“Jason.”
He waited and he could hear the Replacement fidget. The silence stretched and stretched. Jason sighed, pinching his nose.
“I don’t got all night, Timberly.”
His younger brother cleared his throat and fidgeted a little more before, “I think Bruce is hiding something.”
Jason felt his eyebrow climb up high on his forehead, as did a smirk pulling at his lips. Fuck yes.
“B’s always hiding something, Timmy.”
“No, I mean, hiding something from all of us? There are logs and files that don’t match up, like information was removed.”
“And what do you want me to do about it?”
There was more silence before, “Could… Could you come back to the cave? I’m going to track down these files and I’d rather have some backup in case Bruce comes back suddenly or to keep the Demon brat away.”
Jason hummed, looking at the clock. It wasn't late enough for patrol.
“Where is Bruce anyway?”
“He’s in the Watchtower, it’s for a briefing for a future mission and is expected to run for some hours but, you know… I’d rather not be alone when I do find these files.”
“Sure,” Jason readily agreed, picking himself up and grabbing his keys. “I’ll be there in 30.”
“…Thanks, Jason,” and the twerp hangs up right after that. He scoffs, rolling his eyes at the burst of affection warming his chest. Little brothers, seriously.
But… it’s a step in the right direction at least. Hopefully Tim’ll find the originals of those doctored files and finally pull his head out of his ass. Dick’s missed his younger, middle brother a whole lot, and Jason can bet that Tim also misses their oldest brother.
Let’s fucking go.