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Jason groaned as his phone insistently blared Britney Spears at him. He was tired, and it was too early for this shit, but he knew that ringtone, and if Dick was awake this early, he actually needed something. So, he rolled over and answered his phone. “Whatcha need, Dickface?”
“Help.” A tired Dick replied. “I sent Wally to go hang with the Titans to get out of the house, well, out of our Gotham apartment after being here wasn’t change enough from being at home in Keystone, because he’s been feeling trapped, but Jai and Irey need bottles and I don’t know how to do this…and…and I spilled half the special S.T.A.R Labs formulated….formula powder on the flo–or .”
Jason sighed. His big brother was in the middle of a new dad freakout because his partner had left the house. Of course he was. “I’ll be right over, Dickie, don’t have a meltdown in the time it takes me to get there, okay?”
Jason took the quiet affirmative for as good as he was going to get, kissed his somehow-still-sleeping girlfriend’s brow, and headed for his bike. In the early morning the traffic in Gotham wasn’t bad, especially, if like Jason, you understood the city and knew all of the shortcuts. He climbed the stairs to the Grayson-West apartment and knocked a single thud against the door, trying to make it low enough to not wake the twins in case they were sleeping through Dick’s meltdown.
The door opened to a flustered Dick, who was holding a sniffling Irey, and looking rather lost.
“Hey there Ireybug.” Jason said, immediately focusing on the baby speedster. “Come to Uncle Jay.” He reached out and took the baby from his brother, making shushing noises as he stepped inside, lowering his voice slightly. “Hey, Dickie.”
“I don’t know what to do , Little Wing.” Dick admitted. “I’m a horrible Dat.”
“You are not.” Jason said dismissively, following Dick into the kitchen, and noting the pale powder all over the floor. “Go call the formula dealer at S.T.A.R. Labs while I make bottles for the speed racer and Go-go-go.”
“Formula dealer?” Dick snorted.
“Hey, if you knew how much formula can go for in Crime Alley, you’d be shocked and horrified.” Jason said, shaking his head as he shifted Irey to one arm to inspect the instructions on the mostly-empty canister. Noting that the instructions were fairly basic, he easily began preparing two bottles, assuming Jai would wake up very soon if he was not already awake.
“How are you so good at that?” Dick asked, after his initial request had him put on hold and transferred to someone else’s phone. “I felt completely lost.”
“I was babysitting for my downstairs neighbor, Embrace, as soon as I was big enough to hold her baby.” He said with a snort. “First legal money I ever made.” He paused, considering. “Probably the only legal money I ever made.”
Dick laughed. “Your allowance from Bruce was legal.”
Jason paused, mid shaking the second bottle. “Vigilantism is illegal, Dickie.”
“Allowances are completely legal, Jason.” Dick pointed out.
“Yeah…” Jason said slowly. “But I got more money when I learned something new or did good on a case. That’s a job, not an allowance.”
“Nah.” Dick said, shaking his head. “We never had chores because of Alfie. He was trying to encourage us.” Dick cut himself off as his call was taken off of hold so he could order more formula.
“Your Dat is silly, Ireyflower.” Jason teased, as he finished up making the bottle, bouncing her on his hip and wondering what his and Kara’s baby would look like.
Jason spent a few hours feeding and playing with his niblings and letting Dick get a shower, before the circus boy had calmed down enough for Jason to head back to his loft.
Kara was, of course, understanding of his early morning exit while she was sleeping, but then she started something which had become all the more common since the discovery of her pregnancy: fretting. “I didn’t think about needing formula.” She admitted. “Especially with Kryptonian or half-Kryptonian metabolism. Should we start looking into that? Would Speedster formula also be useful for Kryptonians or would it probably need something else?”
“Starshine.” Jason said with a sigh. “If you want to look into formula, we absolutely can, but you have a biological advantage over Dick in that you can breastfeed. Formula may not be necessary.”
“We don’t know whether I’ll be able to or not.” Kara argued. “This is the first Kryptonian pregnancy in over a century. I don’t know if I will produce any, and even if I do, if I’ll be able to produce enough.”
“Okay.” Jason said, easily enough. “Do you want me to call S.T.A.R. Labs or do you want to develop your own in the great ice castle up north?”
Kara tilted her head at him. “You’re not going to argue over it?”
“Babe, all I care about is that you and the baby are healthy.” Jason said, easily. “I know this pregnancy is going to be crazy stressful for you, but I want to cut it down as much as I can. If that means holding a beaker while you develop super-formula or Zeta-ing to S.T.A.R. Labs at 2 A.M., I’ll do it, no questions asked.”
Kara’s blue eyes filled with tears. “I love you so much, Jason Todd.”
Jason smiled. “I ardently admire and love you, Kara Zor-El.”