Jason Todd was not happy. He was rarely happy to be honest but right now, he was furious. Jason had somehow managed to stay on good terms with Bruce for several months and had just finished patrol with said man. He returned to his safe house around midnight only to find one of the windows open.
Not expecting visitors, he pulled out his gun and quietly made his way into the apartment. He could see the kitchen light on and heard a strange slurping sound. Jason turned the corner, gun cocked and ready, just to see someone sitting at the counter, with their back to him, eating a bowl of his cereal.
"Don't move. I'm only gonna ask this once: who the hell are you?" Jason asked threateningly.
The person tensed then turned to face the owner of the safe house. "Jason, it's just me. Put the gun away." It was Dick, who had been gone for a few years now.
"Wh-what the fuck is going on here?!"
"Put the gun down."
"No! Not until you explain this! You're supposed to be dead!" Jason yelled, tears nearly filling his eyes but he didn't let them fall. "You died." He said more softly. Though he rarely showed it, Jason had felt pain over his brother's death. An ache that never really left his heart. He had felt slightly better when Damian had been brought back and hoped Dick could come back too. After all, the dead rarely stayed dead. If anyone knew that, it was Jason.
"Jay, bro, it's okay. It's me, Dick. I'm alive. I have been for a while." Dick put his hands up in a pacifying gesture.
"What do you mean 'have been for a while'? How long have you been alive?" He lowered the gun but still kept a finger on the trigger.
"Well, you see…" he shuffled awkwardly, "I never really died in the first place."
Jason stared at Dick with a blank face but a glare in his eyes. He then dropped the gun and punched Dick square in the face.
"What the hell Jason?!"
"HOW COULD YOU FAKE YOUR DEATH?!"
"It wasn't my choice! Bruce said it was the only way to protect the family after my identity had been compromised! I'm so sorry Jay, I didn't want to."
"Didn't want to? You didn't have to fallow Bruce's orders! You didn't have to hurt us like you did." Jason's eyes filled with tears again. "Didn't you think of how your death would hurt us? Didn't you think of Alfred? Barbara? Tim? Me? Damian? When we got him back, he asked about you." Dick's tears fell freely. "Damian wanted to see you. To talk to you. To show you how good he had become. That kid looked up to you so much and it broke his heart when we told him he'd never see you again." Jason said, remembering the torment and guilt that Damian suffered upon finding out that Dick was gone.
Dick stood up and walked slowly over to his brother. His arms stretched out as if to hug him. Jason just punched him in the face again.
"Come on, Jay, please don't be so angry with me."
"Who wouldn't be angry you broke into my apartment, ate all of my cereal, and faked your death for three years?"