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It was a fairly peaceful day at Wayne manor. The morning was still young and the sky was heavy with snow. Soft white flakes tumbled gracefully outside the window of the Wayne Library, coating the frame and keeping the glass frosted. Jason sat in a high backed chair. A lit cigarette was held carefully between two of his fingers as he worked at cleaning the gun that was dismantled on the table before him. The gun had been a gift to Damian, from him, on the boy’s last birthday. Bruce hadn’t been at all thrilled with the gift and his lack of encouragement allowed the youngest bird to neglect the weapon. Jason, having seen the state it was in, took it upon himself to clean it.
“I’ll teach you how to use it properly once I’m done,” he’d said to the little bird as he expertly dismantled the small hand gun.
Damian had merely rolled his eyes and tutted. Jason, however, expected the boy’s behavior to be for Bruce’s benefit. For as soon as the older man was headed out the door for a meeting at Wayne tower, Damian was making himself comfortable on the window bench in the library. The youngest Robin had picked a large book off one of the room’s many shelves and was reading it while stealing glances at what his older brother was doing.
Jason had been content sharing the silence of the library with Damian. The kid no more wanted to talk than he did. They were both perfectly fine pretending that the other didn’t exist. Yet, their silence was to be stolen as Dick and Tim bounded into the room. Both the first and third robin were nearly in tears from the laughter that had them clutching their stomachs. Alfred had stood in the doorway, scolding them on proper behavior and how it wasn’t good manners to use your brother’s skills to possess the coffee maker.
Alfred had declared the manor a Robin free zone until lunch, saying that the only room that the boys were allowed to be in for the next three hours was the library. After that, Tim parked himself in the middle of an ornate rug in the library. His laptop and tablet were both on and running through the data that Tim was putting into it.
Dick was the one that was really bugging Jason. The older bird was sprawled out in a chair. He sat with his head on the ground and his legs thrown over the top of the chair. His fingers danced on the keyboard of his phone.
“I’m bored,” Dick drew out the word as he dropped his phone on the floor and dramatically rolled his head to the side. “Sooooo bored. I’m dying of boredom.”
“Then can you please do so quietly? I am trying to read,” Damian glanced up from his book to glare at the oldest brother.
“Awe, Dami, show a little compassion,” Dick tossed his legs over his head, launching himself into a somersault. “Come on, guys. The weather’s fair and the day is young. Let’s do something!”
“Tt,” Damian tutted.
Jason remained silent, the only sound he made was when he started reassembling the gun he was cleaning.
Tim paused. He sat completely upright, back straight, and blinked a couple times before saying, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we should do something.”
“Pennyworth has banned us from venturing anywhere outside this room until noon,” Damian stated.
“I know, but I bet he’d be willing to make an exception if we were to leave the manor all together,” Tim smiled. “We could do that thing that you and I were talking about last night.”
“What thing?” Dick’s interest perked.
“You two know how to talk?” Jason snorted. “That’s new. I thought all you were capable of was trying to kill each other.”
“It wouldn’t be trying if father and Grayson would stop interfering,” Damian remarked bluntly.
“There’s been enough funerals in this family,” Dick responded and Jason noticed a hint of sorrow had seeped into the blue bird’s voice.
“All the more reason to enjoy the time we have alive,” Tim grinned. “What do you say, Jason?”
“I say I need to hear what you and demon spawn want to do before I agree to anything,” Jason stood to lean against the table. The gun he’d been working on was now completely clean and reassembled.
“It’s called an escape room,” Damian spoke up, closing his book loudly and placing it on the cushion beneath him. “There’s been an opening of one here in Gotham. Honestly, I think the whole idea of us partaking in such an activity is pointless, but Drake has convinced me that it could be decent enough practice.”
“Damian seems to think that the puzzles will be novice compared to what we’re used to,” Tim informed his brothers, “but escape rooms are designed to be challenging. True, we’ll still have an upper hand compared to other patrons, but it could be entertaining. It’d be a lot better than sitting in the library for the next three hours.”
“It would be an effective way to rescue Grayson from the excruciating death boredom has planned for him,” Damian agreed.
“Sounds fun,” Dick grinned.
Jason took a long drag of his cigarette. “Whatever. Like you said, Timmy, it’s better than being stuck in here.”
“Excellent!” Tim exclaimed and wasted no time rushing to the communication system built into the wall. He pressed a button and merely said, “Alfred?”
“Yes, Master Timothy?” the old Butler’s voice came through the speaker almost immediately.
“Great news!” Dick was suddenly at Tim’s side and speaking into the speaker. “You’ll have the manor to yourself for awhile. Us birds are going into town.”
“Oh, goodie,” Alfred’s voice was dry. “Do be careful, sirs. Your father will not be pleased if he comes home to find you’ve blown up a building.”
“We’ll be careful,” Tim promised.
Jason took one last drag from his cigarette before putting it out in the ashtray on the table behind him. Said ash tray had magically appeared two days before and others like it had started popping up around the manor. When he’d asked Bruce about them the older man had grunted and said, “Those were always there. You’re observation skills are rusty.”
Alfred had proven more helpful when he admitted that, “Master Bruce had them purchased for you. We both wish you would quit destroying your lungs but as it is winter we cannot, in good conscience, continue with our usual agreement that you can smoke as long as it is done outside. We will not have you getting pneumonia with your lungs as black as they are.”
The ashtray in the library had acquired the butts of more than a few cigarettes that day. Even though Jason and Dick had been acting civil towards each other and it’d been almost a whole two days since Dick had last brought up their past love affair, being around the other man was still stressful. Jason’s nerves were on end. Try as he may to relax, he couldn’t. This led him to smoking almost half a pack of cigarettes since he’d woken up that morning. Sad thing was, it wasn’t even noon yet and he was on his last pack. He’d have to see about stopping at a gas station or store on the way back from the escape room. Of course, if he drove then the others wouldn’t have a choice whether he stopped or not.
“We can take the Bentley,” Jason declared. “My red one. I’ll drive.”
“I am disinclined to agree,” Damian stated. “I am not getting into a vehicle that Todd is driving.”
“No worries, little D,” Dick grinned. “We’ll just take mine.”
Jason growled. “And what makes you a better driver than me?”
“My perfect record,” Dick remarked. “I was a cop, remember? I’ve seen your records.”
Abusing your power to check up on me?” Jason snorted. “You weren’t kidding when you said you weren’t the cleanest cop in town. And here I thought you would never stoop so low as to illegally look at my records.
“It’s not illegal.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not.”
“So lying.”
“I’m not lying.”
“I say you are.”
“I say I’m not.”
“And I say you’re….”
“Neither of you are driving,” Tim cut in calmly. “The escape room is mine and Damian’s idea so one of us should get to drive and seeing that baby bat doesn’t have his license yet, we’ll be taking my car…and Damian gets shotgun.”
Both Jason and Dick groaned at the thought of having to share the backseat of Tim’s Prius. The car was small enough without having to sit by the person that was putting them on edge. Still, in an effort to be brothers, both older birds slid into the backseat and allowed Tim to drive them into the city. Neither of them said a word to each other for the first half of the drive. Instead, they listened to Tim and Damian bicker over what music to listen to. Eventually, Tim won. He managed to get both Dick and Jason on his side and used the fact that it was his car that they were in to get the radio set on a Christmas station.
Jason stared out his window and pretended not to care that Dick’s voice, as he sang along to the Christmas tunes, was so alluring that it made his heart melt. He fought to hide a smile and rolled his eyes as Tim encouraged him to join in the caroling. He and Damian would not be moved, however. As Damian stared down at his phone, probably texting the girl Jason had been hearing so much about, Jason laid his head back against his seat and closed his eyes.
The last two days had been somewhat comfortable with neither Jason nor Dick bringing up their past dalliance. Yet, Jason still hadn’t managed to get a full night’s rest. He tried, but his dreams always managed to be consumed by Dick.
Blue eyes and a wide grin haunted his sleep. The dreams always started the same, with him feeling warm and happy. They always ended the same too, with his heart shattering all over again. He knew the dreams were his subconscious’ way of telling him to stay away from the older bird. They were its way of reminding him of why he should stop himself from drowning in those eyes every time they were trained on him or why he should smother the butterflies that threatened to overtake his stomach each time he saw the grin.
The night before, he’d attempted to chase away the dreams by completely exhausting himself. He’d made his way to the Batcave, found the suit he had stashed there, and geared up for patrol. His plans were corrupted, however, when Bruce declared him unfit for patrol.
“Red Hood hasn’t been on patrol in half a year,” Bruce had stated as he secured his utility belt around his waist. “There’s no way I’m letting you out until I’ve seen proof that you haven’t neglected your skills.”
Jason had tried to barter with the bat and when that didn’t work he’d tried threatening, but Bruce had remained stone faced as he pulled on his cowl and headed towards the Batmobile. Robin had been on his heels and Red Robin was pulling his own cowl up.
“Oracle’s out of town,” Red Robin had told Jason as he readied his bike. “We could use you on the computer if you really want to help.”
“I certainly wouldn’t mind having you in my ear all night,” Nightwing had grinned from his place atop his own bike, but the grin was tight...forced.
For some reason, Nightwing hadn’t left when Batman and Robin had. He hadn’t even left on his own. He’d stuck around the cave until Red Robin was ready and then the duo departed together. In fact, as Jason kept watch at the computer he noticed that Nightwing and Red Robin seemed to be patrolling together. They never went more than a few blocks from each other and the two times that Nightwing had gotten further away Red Robin had circled back around to meet him and had lectured him on what it meant to be patrol partners.
Patrolling in pairs wasn’t exactly a new concept, but the way Tim had reacted when Dick had slipped away from him was new. Baby bird was acting like a mother hen. Jason had listened to the third robin scold the first with a stern and unyielding voice. The gravity in Tim’s tone had triggered a warning bell in Jason and he had joined the conversation in order to ask, “Red Robin, Nightwing, what the hell is going on?”
Immediately the two stopped their bickering, though neither of them answered Jason’s question.
“Sorry, Hood. Didn’t mean to annoy you,” Nightwing’s voice came through the comm in Jason’s ear. “Any trouble on the radar?”
Jason had frowned at the way Dick had evaded his question and went to point out the blue bird’s actions but was cut off by Tim.
“It’s a pretty quiet night. Looks like even the villains are taking a break for the holidays. Is the radar clean enough for us to end patrol early?”
“I’ve got nothing,” Jason responded.
Nightwing and Red Robin had both returned to the cave early, followed shortly by Batman and Robin, but it was still almost three in the morning before Jason had gone to bed. While his brothers had chosen to discard their gear for the warmth of their comforters, he’d chosen to stay in the cave with Bruce. Neither he nor Bruce had said anything to each other as Jason practiced on the mats and Bruce did his reports from Patrol.
Not a word was shared until Jason was wiping sweat from his brow and headed for the showers. Only then did Bruce speak and when he did he didn’t move his eyes from the computer.
“Your form is good. You’ve been training,” Bruce stated.
Jason rolled his shoulders, feeling the muscles there ache. He had been training, but not nearly as much as he used to. His workout routine had dropped from being nightly to being two to three times a week. He’d managed to make it to the gym a few times but most of his training was done in his one bedroom apartment in Star City.
“Gotta keep in shape,” Jason’s response to the Wayne patriarch was breathy as he tried to hide that he was catching his breath. “Red Hood might not be beating justice into the punks of Gotham anymore, but I ain’t retired yet.”
Bruce turned then; swiveling his chair so he could lock his blue gaze on his second son. Jason felt a sense of defensiveness settle over him as those icy blue eyes racked over his form.
Before he left for Star City, he and Bruce were on agreeable terms. They hadn’t been as close as they were when he was Robin, but he was no longer angry or trying to kill the older man, and Bruce’s gaze had lost that disappointed pity look they’d always held when he’d looked at his son before. Yet, the second bird still felt the need to straighten his posture and raise his chin when he knew Bruce was watching.
Bruce didn’t say anything for a moment and Jason wondered if the older man was planning on saying anything at all. Blue eyes merely analyzed Jason, from the top of his head to his boot clad feet. When Bruce stood it was so sudden and ridged that it made Jason take a step back. And when two strong, callused hands were placed on his shoulders he didn’t know what to do but look at the man who was his father figure.
“I could use you in the field,” Bruce stated. “Perhaps next time you can join us on patrol.”
“Proven that I haven’t neglected my skills, have I?” Jason mocked cheekily.
“You’ve proven that you’re in much better shape than I gave you credit for. With Richard being a liability on patrol since you left, I had assumed you’d be in much the same state. That was…that was…” Bruce cleared his throat. “That was my mistake. You are in much better condition than he is and I would be honored if you joined us on patrol tomorrow night.”
Jason had wondered over Bruce’s words. He’d taken the Bat up on his offer, of course, as he was eager to get back out busting criminals, but the older man had called Dick a liability. That paired with the way Tim had been mother-henning their brother earlier that night had him worried. Things weren’t adding up when it came to Dick. He felt like he was missing something important. Like he’d gone away for six months and suddenly Dick was no longer fit to patrol. What had happened to the older bird that made him a liability? What had happened to make him leave the police force and to have Tim worrying over him?
There was more going on with Nightwing than the family was saying.
“Jaybird,” Dick’s voice was soft but it cut through Jason’s thoughts all the same, pulling him back to reality and into the backseat of Tim’s car.
“Huh?” Jason grunted, he stretched as best he could in the cramped back seat of the Prius. His legs were much too long to make sitting in the back comfortable.
“You dozed off. Dami and Timmy went inside to sign us up for a room. I told them I’d wake you up,” Dick was still using that soft tone and there was hesitance in his cerulean eyes, like he wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing.
Jason grunted again. “We shouldn’t keep baby bird and the demon spawn waiting. Didn’t realize I was so fucking tiered.”
Dick gave a light chuckle. His eyes turned downwards and it made Jason pause for a moment. The laugh had been too breathy and short. It was nowhere near Dick’s usual laugh. And the way he turned his eyes away from Jason…he’d been doing that a lot the last two days. Jason didn’t like it. He didn’t like the way it made Dick appear weak and submissive. The way it made him look fragile and broken. It was a side of Dick that he’d never seen before and one he didn’t enjoy seeing at all.
“If you need to sleep, I’ll tell Tim. We can go back to the manor,” Dick offered.
“Fuck that, man. We came here for brotherly bonding or some shit like that. I’m not going to ruin Timmy and Damian’s plans,” Jason slipped out of the car.
The building the escape room was in was an old brick building. It was only two stories in height and was smashed between an ice cream parlor and a hair salon. A little brass bell dinged as Jason and Dick walked through the door and into the lobby.
Tim and Damian were standing at the counter, talking to a man with a beanie on his head and glasses resting on the end of his nose. He pushed a form over to Tim, who signed it and gave it back with a smile. When Tim spotted Dick and Jason he waved them over.
“Hey, slowpokes, Damian and I set it up so we could race each other,” Tim informed.
“We’ll work in pairs,” Damian added dryly. “Two will be in one escape room while two will be in the other. Grayson, I have decided to be your partner. Drake will be with Todd.”
“Last team to escape has to buy hot chocolate,” Tim grinned.
“Everything’s in order,” the man at the counter cut in. “Have a seat and you’ll be called back when the rooms are ready.”
“Thank you,” Tim spoke to the man before plopping himself down in one of the poorly cushioned black chairs in the lobby.
It didn’t take long for the rooms to be ready and soon a woman in baggy jeans and converse shoes was walking up to them with a clipboard.
“Wayne party?” the woman asked, adjusting the glasses on her nose.
“That’s us,” Tm declared.
“Of course it is us,” Damian stated. “There are no other patrons here.”
“Little D, be nice,” Dick chided.
“Kid’s got a point,” Jason informed.
“Right,” the woman drew out the word. “Timothy and Damian will be in room one and Richard and Jason will be in room two. Once you are in you cannot…”
“Wait,” Dick interrupted. “I thought Damian and I were on a team.”
“Yes, I refuse to work with Drake. I demand to be put with Grayson,” Damian supported.
The woman blinked at Damian, “You’re a weird kid.” She checked her clipboard and blew a bubble with the pink gum in her mouth. “Sorry, says here that the teams are Timothy/Damian and Richard/Jason.”
“You signed us up wrong,” Damian accused Tim, who shrugged.
“Sorry,” Tim stated, “but it’s not like it really matters. Besides, it might be more of a challenge this way.”
“Tt,” Damian tutted.
“Seriously, hear me out, Dames. You’re use to working with Dick and I’m use to working with Jason. Knowing our partners gives us a higher advantage. If we go in with a partner we’re less familiar with then the puzzles might prove to be more of a challenge. Which would give use more practice and help strength our team bonds.”
Damian blinked unconvinced, but brushed past Tim to follow the woman to their escape room. “If it makes for better training, then fine, but do not assume our partnership will become a reoccurring event.”
“I would never,” Tim grinned but cast a side glance to Jason and Dick. “You guys okay with this?”
“Sure!” Dick declared in an overly enthusiastic voice. “Jaybird and I got this.”
“I’m sure I can get them to switch our teams if I need to,” Tim responded in all seriousness. “If working together will be too hard for you.”
Jason smirked. “Worried we’ll beat you and the demon spawn, baby bird?”
“No. Worried, you’ll kill each other.”
“We’re big boys,” Dick stated though to Jason it sounded more like he was talking to himself then to Tim. “We can handle this.”
“We’re brothers,” Jason confirmed. “And we’re going to wipe the floor with you and that little shithead.”
“I can still hear you, you know,” Damian spoke from where he stood by the beginning of a hall.
“I know,” Jason grinned. “Come on Dickhead. Let’s show the little bridies how it’s done.”
As Jason and Dick walked past Damian to get to their room, Tim smirked at the youngest bird. The older two were too far away to hear him say, “And that’s how it’s done.”
“Yeah, great plan. You’ve got them in a locked room. Now what? How are we supposed to be sure this works if we’re in a room just like theirs? As much as I hate to admit it, they are smart. They know how to break out of places with more security than this. What’s to stop them from rushing through the puzzles without talking?”
“Us. I paid off the front counter guy. In five minutes he and his assistant are going to leave and we will have complete control over every escape room in this building,” Tim informed. "It won't mater if they solve the puzzles or not. If they don't start talking everything out then we'll abuse our power over the locking mechanism."
“Tt. If this works I will be amazed.”
“Of course it’ll work. It’s my plan.”
“Tt.”
“Besides, the worst that could happen is that Jason will shoot him again.”
Damian and Tim shared a look.
“Perhaps we should have made sure he didn’t bring a gun,” Damian remarked.
Tim thought for a moment before saying, “I’m sure they’ll be fine. Jason felt bad about shooting Dick last time. I don’t think he’ll try it again.”
“Grayson can be annoying and Todd has a low tolerance level.”
“They’ll be fine, Damian.”
Tim walked over to the computer at the front desk and took the now vacant chair. With just a few clicks he had the camera to Jason and Dick’s room open. Damian moved to stand beside him and together they watched as the woman explained the escape scenario to their brothers.
“Once I leave this room,” the woman was saying, “my associate at the front counter will lock the door behind me. The door cannot be unlocked without either him or I manually unlocking it from the computer, unless you have the passcode. There is a security panel by the door and in this room there are several puzzles. If you solve the puzzles correctly then you will find the passcode and will be able to escape. You have thirty minutes to escape. If an emergency arises and you must leave before then, there is a button to press on the security panel that will alert us to your situation. If you do not solve the puzzles in thirty minutes than you will be automatically let out. Understood?”
Dick and Jason nodded.
“Your time begins as soon as the door locks,” the woman stated. “Happy escaping.”