Hi, guys!
Sorry, this took so long. I had intentionally wanted this to be longer, like a huge reveling chapter and all, but it just didn't work out that way. Dick and Dami wanted to hold out one more chapter, and I can never win a fight with the voices in my head…
Anyways, you do get some Jay/Tim here, and some Jason and Damian sibling bonding. Scary, yeah, I know.~
Anyways, I swear on my kitty (whose name is Damian after said Robin :3) that Dick/Dami will happen in the next chapter, and Dick finally gets to confront Damian on this whole shindig.
Until next time, folks, and thanks for reading!
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Deft fingers twisted and turned in the mirror, grabbing black fabric here and there, tugging and pulling. Once satisfied with the perfectly straightened bowtie, blue eyes flickered up, hand patting down nonexistent out of place hair.
In the near the door barged open, slamming against the wall behind it, "Dammit, Timmy, do I really gotta wear this?" Jason asked, fiddling with his own tie, blue meeting blue and the reflective surface.
Tim wrote his eyes, stepping towards his lover and batting away Jason's hand to have at the time self, "Well, maybe if you had let someone in on your ingenious plans you had made with Damian for this 'joyous occasion' we could have arranged something different." Tim answered hands tugs tightly at the material around Jason's neck.
Jason gagged a bit at the mistreatment, but bit his tongue, Tim had been in her right mood since last night smelling cigarette smoke on Jason .And much to Jason's chagrin, it hadn't been an initiative for angry sex, just lots of yelling and it pissed off bird. And that bird was still pissed about Jason not telling him anything about Ra's ultimatum for Damien and their plan for Dick.
Jason sighed, as much as he could do with Tim trying to strangle him, "Timmy, I told you, the kid didn't want anyone to know. It was an accident that I was even there to witness him read the damn letter."
Tim's eyes flashed up to his boyfriend's in a "yeah, sure" manner before looking back down at his task, something taking longer than it should.
Jason sighed again, placing one hand on Tim's shoulder and the other lifting his chin up to look back up at him, "Tim, Damian was scared. If he didn't follow Ra's' wishes then he'd leave and leave everything that he had gained behind. The two of us, out of all people, can understand a threatening loss like that. He needed help, I offered. He told me not to tell anyone until he was ready, so I listened. Did I know he would wait till the day before this all had to go down? No, but I don't regret helping him for that." A small smile played on Tim's lips, he was still mad Jason tell, but he wasn't furious.
Finally finishing Jason's tie, Tim strained it, laying it flat, before gently cupping Jason's cheek. Long and elegant fingers tracing Jason's eyebrow, "Well, looky there. The big bad Jason Todd has a heart after all."
The elder gave a crooked smirk, pressing a kiss to Tim's palm, leaning into his touch, "Yeah well, just to let the word get out. Might have to kill you, or ya know, have my wicked way with you or something to keep my rep up." He winked at the younger boy, relishing in the light dusting of pink that settled onto the apples of Tim's cheeks.
"Jason!" Tim hissed, bringing his free hand to swat at Jason's massive chest. Only to have Jason catch it and bring it up to his lips, pressing a light kiss to Tim's knuckles.
Feeling something in his chest shifts, just that it always did when Jason did something incredibly sweet and out of character, Tim maneuvered to the tips of his toes, and gave his lover a chaste, but meaningful kiss. It wasn't until Jason snaked an arm around Tim's waist, pulling them flush together, did Tim take a deliberate step back out of Jason's vicinity. Ignoring his pouting boyfriend, he then turned back towards the mirror, fixing his hair once more, frowning a bit at his new thoroughly kissed red lips.
"You're such a girl, Tim." Jason snorted out, watching Tim swiped from lip balm, hoping to pass it off as ill colored Chapstick.
Tim arch eyebrow through the mirror, a hard look in his eye that shut the older up, sending Jason flopping on their bed boneless, thanking what ever higher power up there that this "wedding" was taking place at the manor
Surprisingly, it was Bruce's idea since nine of them were very religious, and churches reminded Bruce too much of funeral. Some bull about "keeping it family" and the manor being very family, and yadda yadda. Tim had been eating a banana at the time and Jason's attention had been… elsewhere…
After a few minutes, Jason's eyes adjusted shut, tapping a beat on his chest with the fingers. Last time he had been this just up with for an undercover mission, Tim as his date in a stunning little red number that may really hard (in more than one sense of the word) to remember the job and the target. And the time before that was… his own funeral… Yeah, Jason usually glad Bruce decided to be to veto the whole church idea.
A soft dip on the bed pulled him back from that decrepit memory, a lone small warm hand on his thigh helped even more. Maybe if he played cards right they could sneak in a quickie before the ceremony if he promised not to touch Tim' s hair.
"Jay, do… Do you think Dick is going to make it?"
Jason mentally cursed, looked like no quickie. Sighing, Jason pulled himself up to look at Tim, "I don't know, Prettybird, I left him with a lot to think about last night, somethings that take a lot more than just 12 hours to accept."
"But, Ra's is here. If Dick doesn't show up then he'll take Damian away. If Dick loved him, lover or brother, then he'd come when he?"
As if to make sure this whole thing was really going down, Ra's and Talia had shown up action early for the ceremony.
"To get the best seats in the house at witnessing my grandson's happy union." Was Ra's' excuse. But no matter what, it still chilled Jason to the bone just being in the same room with the creep. And don't even get him started on Talia shooting him our Bruce lusty glances whenever she could. Jason and Bruce had to literally hold back Tim and Selena from starting a catfight and gouging Talia's eyes out with a plastic spoon.
If this is what they were having to deal with,Jason could only imagine what the kid was going through right now.
[Flashback]
When he had gotten back last night, and Tim had cast them off to the couch for the duration of the night, Jason had seen Damian and a huge overstuffed armchair in the living room, during listlessly at the TV. There was some random infomercial on, and Jason noticed that the armchair's massive size made Damian look incredibly small, almost like the kid had regressed back to his 10-year-old self.
"Ain't you got a bed time, kid? You got a busy day tomorrow." Jason greeted, flopping ungracefully on the couch.
"You smell like tar and fermaltihide, Todd. If it weren't for the lack of older of intercourse on you as well I'd think you'd of died again." Damian bit back, I was not detering from the TV screen.
Jason arched brow, he knew the kid was tired if his comebacks didn't have that much heat in them as usual, and he didn't need the obvious bags under the youngest bird' s eyes that were clearly visible in the dim light tell him that. But Jason decided, for once, to take the mature route and not say anything else to bait the boy.
Surprisingly, and what half of Jason with hoping for, Damien spoke first, "He hasn't come back."
Jason lulled his head to the side and internally groaned, wishing he had a beer for this. Two heart-to-heart chats in one night was training, and damn him if the two of these knuckleheads weren't meant for each other. "What did you do, low-Jack ham or something? You bug his room and bathroom?"
That got Damian to at least look over at him, raving a brow in such a manner that Jason couldn't figure out if it was in such a fashion that he was answering yes or no. Shit, this kid creeped him out sometimes.
"Anyways, what does it matter if he's not here now? It's tomorrow when you really need him."
Damian just shrugged, looking away from the older. But Jason was keen enough to catch a guilty look and the kid's eyes. These past few months, being the only one Damian had unwillingly shared his burden with, Jason had gotten better at reading the Robin, not nearly as good as "Dick, the demon whisper" but good enough as say a brother would.
"You were going to call it off, weren't you? Going to go to him and spill you are rotten little guts to get back in his good graces. Don't you know what would happen if you did that?!"
"Of course her know what would happen, Todd. I think about it every day." Damian said as calm as ice, eyes hard and guarded. "I have dreams every night about grandfather sending for me, and having to leave father, and Batman and Robin, and Pennyworth, even you and Drake. But most of all, I jerk awake in a cold sweat at the thought of leaving…" He broke off into choked breath.
"Dick. It kills you inside at the thought of leaving Dick." Jason said as he ran a hand down his tires this. Man, if Dick did not show up tomorrow he was going to kill him personally. It should be a crime to see the spawn of Satan get all teary eyed and mushy like this.
Damian just looked away, his silence louder than if he had shouted it from the rooftop. This whole situation reminded Jason of some retarded rendition of 'Romeo and Juliet', except it was more like Romeo and Romeo, and they both had the IQs of carrots.
Actually feeling sorry for the boy, Jason stood up and walked over to where Damien had curled back and on himself. It was really times like this Jason remembered that beneath the devil horns, Dragon scale skin, Robin mask, blood of his victims, and eloquent insults that Damian was still a kid. The youngest out of all of them at the bittersweet age of 16. And being asked to potentially ruin the bond he had, the only real bond, with an actual normal human being has got to be killer.
He placed a hand on Damien's shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze. An extremely brotherly gesture, he knew, but he didn't care. The kid was carrying the weight of everything on his shoulders and could use some support. "Listen, kid, why don't you head up to bed. We all got a lot to do tomorrow, and it won't help if you're fucking it all up by passing out from not enough sleep. Everything will look better when the sun is up."
What really got Jason though, was when the kid wrapped his arm around his body for split-second before releasing and marching up the stairs. Once Jason thoughts got over that Damian wasn't actually attacking him, it relaxed more, eyes shifting over to the staircase. Shaking his head, Jason sunk back down to the couch, grabbing the remote, starting to channel surf. "You're welcome, kid." He whispered out to an anteroom, finally satisfied with the night.
[End Flashback]
Jason's hands covered Tim's, involuntarily bringing him back to the present. "I don't know, Timmy. All I know is that boy does not trust easily, but he undoubtedly trusts Dick with his life. Love is not something well known to him, but he would die for our stupid older brother. I also know Dick would do this exact same thing for the kid." He brought Tim's hand up to kiss the inside of his wrist gently, gaining a small smirk, "If I really had to answer then, yeah, I'd say Dick'll show up. But if he doesn't, I call free reign with that new taser you helped design with Bruce."