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It was normal for Dick to wake up in the middle of the night. For the most part, it was either a bad dream or a stray cat outside. Nothing he couldn’t pinpoint and fall back asleep to. But tonight was different.
Dick’s eyes opened as he heard a soft noise from inside of his house. He squinted into the darkness as he listened, slowly sitting up. Dick was the type of person that didn’t need to take time to wake up. That habit had been kicked way back in his time as Robin.
He heard another soft shuffle, then a clunk. Okay, so someone was definitely in his house. Dick’s mind spiraled, wondering if this person knew who he was as Nightwing, already had his hands on his family, his loved ones. He glanced toward Haley who was asleep by the window, on her bed. The neon lights that buzzed through the city shone in his room, carving out shadows he could assess.
The noises went quiet, but that didn’t stop the man from leaning down to his costume that had been discarded on the floor, picking up an escrima stick and shaking it out of it’s loop on his suit. The man slowly got up and creeped out of his bedroom, down the hallway til his eyes landed at the figure in the entryway, working on taking their shoes off at the front of the door.
Dick could only blink in surprise, reeling his arm back to throw the thing at the intruder before he met the strangers’ eyes.
“What the fuck?”
“Whaddya mean what the fuck?!” Dick put his arm down, recognizing the man’s voice immediately. Instead of throwing his escrima stick at the man, he flicked on his lightswitch with it.
The two brothers took a moment to blink and adjust to the light, Jason standing up. “You were gonna throw that thing at me!”
“Course I was!” Dick bickered back instantly, a hand coming up to scrub at his eyes, stepping backward as exhaustion finally hit him.
“Fucking asshole,” Jason grumbled back, taking his jacket off and putting it up on the coat rack.
“You wandered into my house and started making noise and you’re calling me an asshole? Oh I’m sorry, didn’t realize that I was supposed to welcome stuff like that with open arms.” Dick rolled his eyes, finally getting a good look at Jason.
One side of him was wet, but since he was in all black, Dick had no clue what it was. He looked exhausted, eyes red and shoulders drooped.
“Jay,” Dick said cautiously as he watched his younger brother cross the floor to the kitchen, grabbing a cup worldlessly.
“Jason, what are you doing here?” Dick asked more directly, walking over to the kitchen island and setting his weapon down.
“Comin’ to see my big brother,” Jason gave a noncommittal shrug that only seemed to bristle his older brother up more. He filled his cup up from the dispenser on the fridge, the man breathing fancy under his breath before turning his head at more footsteps coming from down the hall.
Dick sunk into a barstool, propping a head up in his hand as he glanced toward Haley making a beeline for Jason, the man bending down to pet her with a tired smile.
“Can I sleep here tonight?” Jason asked, eyes on the dog, body turned away from Dick as if he were scared to face him fully.
“Jason, you can sleep here every night if you tell me what’s going on,” Dick waved with his free hand before fidgeting with his escrima stick, rolling it back and forth along the counter.
“Ooh, pushy,” Jason let out a low chuckle, letting Haley walk off as he drank some water, sighing and setting it down after.
“What are you even doing in Bludhaven? It’s--”
“Don’t tell me how far it is, I fuckin’ drove here didn’t I?” Jason jabbed, thick Gotham accent coming out. Dick’s accent usually didn’t slip unless he was around Jason, his cadence not being something he was particularly proud of.
Dick just sighed and pushed himself up, walking around the island. For a moment, Jason made it seem like Dick was about to corner him. His body language turned guarded, like he’d run if Dick kept walking toward him. But that didn’t happen.
“It’s good to see you,” Dick whispered kindly, gently taking Jason’s hands, ripping the velcro straps from his gloves. He took them off of Jason’s hands, setting them on the counter before thumbing over his brother’s hands.
“Yeah,” Jason breathed back, word barely a whisper. He surprised his brother by wrapping his arms around him, pulling Dick close. Dick held him back, feeling Jason melt and guide himself into the nooks and crannies he knew so well. Face tucked in Dick’s neck, knees slightly bent so he wouldn’t be too tall.
“Tired?” Was all Dick could think to say, slowly rubbing circles in Jason’s back, having too many questions for Jason while knowing now wasn’t a good time.
Jason nodded, somehow getting more into Dick’s neck than he already was, which earned a soft laugh from the other.
“Listen, I can pick you up, but I don’t think we’d fit through the door. Plus, I may throw out my back. So move it,” He moved away from the other, letting Jason unravel himself and stand straight. Dick eyed his face, noting the tears that had welled up in his eyes. How none fell, but his eyelashes clumped as if he’d already cried. Dick didn’t outwardly react, letting Jason turn and walk into the back of the apartment.
“I’ll get you some clothes, do not sit on my bed with those jeans on,” Dick prematurely chastised, watching as Jason backed himself up and into a corner so the other could get him some clothes.
Dick was a good brother. He prided himself on that. And he’d be damned if he didn’t have at least two sets of clothes for all of his siblings. He went to his closet and pulled out the bottom dresser, fishing for the right clothes before tossing them to Jason. “There, go wash up, Jay.”
Dick gestured to his bathroom and walked back out to the kitchen to flick off the light, as well as to give Jason some privacy. He refilled the water cup and brought it back into the bedroom, setting it on the empty guest nightstand.
He got himself into bed, scrubbing at his face. He only wished his family would text before coming in. Maybe he needed to hold a family intervention for this.
All thoughts about rallying his family up into a small room went away when Jason came back out and wordlessly crawled into bed, getting under the covers.
Dick turned to face Jason, noting how he curled up, and put a hand on his brother’s side.
The two laid in silence for a while until Dick’s eyes closed, and Jason finally decided to speak.
“Do you think I had to grow up too fast?”
Dick felt a lump grow in his throat, and he kept his eyes closed, though his brows knit together in worry. “Loaded question, baby bird. What do you think?”
Jason made a soft noise, and found himself moving to rest a hand on Dick’s.
“You know,” Jason sighed shakily. “When I died, I was so young...” He shook his head, causing Dick to open his eyes and look at him. He moved to squeeze Jason’s hand, already feeling bad that Jason opened that can of worms.
“I got you, Jay,” Dick replied quickly, petting over scarred knuckles. “I would uhm... I’d say you had to, yeah. What you went through was tough. And scary. You shouldn’t have had to go through any of that. Course you grew up too fast. But you’re still my baby brother.”
Jason moved to tuck his face into Dick’s side, nodding a bit. Dick could tell he was doing that silent cry thing where he wasn’t making a peep, but the waterworks were on. It physically hurt him to see his brother like this. So torn up . “What made you ask?”
Dick’s arms scooped Jason up as Jason shrugged, curling into the other’s arms. “I just don’t feel like it, sometimes... Like I don’t feel like I should be this old, I guess.”
“You lost years, Jay. Course you won’t. When Dami died, he came back and told me the same thing. He lost a year, so to him, he didn’t feel like he had aged at all.” Dick explained. “You lost more than that, and you lost even more trying to find yourself after it all. You don’t need to feel like your legal age. You know that?”
Jason gave a small nod, and Dick could tell he was properly crying from how his shirt was dampening.
“We should sleep, Jaybird. Talk more in the morning,” his brother soothed softly, moving Jason up so he could press a firm kiss to his hair.
“Sorry,” Jason supplied, as if he had to apologize. It made Dick chuckle with pity more than anything.
“No need. You just get some sleep.” Dick mumbled, pulling him closer.
He rubbed circles into his younger brother’s back, listening to Jason’s breathing as the two fell asleep. Dick wasn’t sure if what he said would even help his brother, but he’d hoped it would. He knew that Jason was so reserved that this was something big. The vulnerability, the crying. Dick fell asleep feeling like a lot of walls were broken, and that was enough for him.
He found himself waking up alone the following morning, body tired and logged with sleep. He turned and moved the covers away from him, seeing a few drops of blood on the bed, with a sharpie’d “SORRY” on his sheets. Dick saw red for only a moment before groaning instead. Blood, he could get out. Sharpie? Whole other thing. When was Jason even bleeding? Why did he write an apology on his sheets out of everything?
Dick knew it was just to be an asshole, but still... His mind went to Jason last night at the front door, and he realized that Jason had probably been bleeding from his side the entire time. He cringed inwardly as he wandered into his bathroom, seeing the first aid kit strewn across his counter. Okay, so maybe Jason was right about him not acting his age.
Dick couldn’t help but smile as he cleaned up, working his way from the bathroom to changing the sheets. He even realized the water at the bedside was completely gone, and wandering out into the kitchen saw that it was put in the sink.
He got himself some breakfast and sat down, giving Jason a call as he ate.
On the third ring, he picked up. “Richard?”
Dick snorted, shaking his head. “Oh shut up. You’re paying me back for those bedsheets.”
“How much are they? They felt like $10 max.”
“I’ll have you know that it was pure cotton. $150, Jaybird.”
The line went dead, and Dick found himself laughing. His brother was gonna be just fine.