Chapter Text
Dick opened his front door to find a sea of cardboard boxes blocking his way. They were piled four or five high and on every available surface. He couldn’t even see through to the living room.
“Jay?” He called. He could hear movement and cursing from deep within the clutter.
“Here!” Jason called back before cursing again.
Dick tried to follow the sound of his voice through the maze of boxes.
“What is all this?” He wondered loudly, trying to make his way to Jason by sound alone.
He sidestepped to neatly edge past a particularly tall pile, only to knock over the precarious stack next to it. Dick had to move quickly to catch the topmost box before it slid to the ground. It was heavy . Curious he opened the untaped flaps of cardboard.
“Books?” He murmured to himself. “Are all these-oh-”
He rounded the corner to find Jason on his hands and knees wielding a hammer.
“What are you doing?”
Jason grimaced at him. “We didn’t have enough shelf space so I’m trying to put this goddamn thing together.” He tried to pound in a nail with his hammer but missed spectacularly.
“Fucking Billy.” Jason muttered under his breath.
Dick cocked an eyebrow. “Billy?”
“Billy.” Jason confirmed. “Dick- Billy, Billy- Dick” He waved back and forth between Dick and the half finished shelving unit like he was introducing them.
“I don’t know it’s some stupid Ikea thing. They give all their shit weird names. This one is Billy.”
“Billies” Dick amended catching sight of the four ikea boxes stacked behind Jason. Jason nodded concentrating on the nail.
Dick set the box he had caught down on a nearby pile that was only waist high. He thumbed the spines absently.
“These are all books?” He asked. There had to be at least 30 boxes. Dick seriously doubted even five more bookshelves would hold them all.
“What did you do? Rob a library?”
Jason just grinned wolfishly. Dick really wouldn’t put it passed him.
He picked up a book at random The Great Gatsby- title barely readable from the well worn spine.
“I thought you’d moved all your stuff already.” He said. “At least all the stuff you were planning to move.” It came out a little more bitter than Dick had planned, but he wasn’t going to take it back. Not for anything.
It was an argument he wasn’t going to win, and Dick knew that. Jason had stubbornly refused to give up his various safe houses scattered across Gotham. Dick had tried to point out that there was very little point in them moving in together if Jason wasn’t going to actually move, but Jason had held firm.
Dick had finally gotten Jason to concede to leaving just the essentials at the safe houses- back up equipment and a change of clothes- while moving most of his belongings to the new apartment.
He knew Jason well enough to take what he could get, but he wasn’t happy about it, and he definitely wasn’t going to keep his mouth shut.
“Stuff Yes. Books No.” Jason answered. He acted like he hadn’t heard the second half of Dick’s statement, showing that he too was tired of fighting about the issue.
Jason stood and brushed off the knees of his black work jeans. He faced Dick hands on hips.
“I dunno- I just figured my books should be here. At home. With you.”
Dick looked up at him startled.
“What? Isn’t that the whole point of this?” Jason gestured at the cluttered apartment. “You, Me, y’know home .”
Dick let Gatsby slide back into place between Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Finnegans Wake stunned. Coming from Jason a statement like that was as good as an apology.
“You know it makes it really hard to stay mad at you when you say things like that.” He told Jason tartly.
Jason grinned and grabbed Dick’s hand to pull him closer.
“I know” He said kissing Dick gently. “That’s why I keep saying ‘em”
“Now.” Jason pulled back slightly. “How good are you with an Allen wrench?”