Dick really tried to hate the kid, his replacement. Yeah, he was fired from being Robin and yeah since he was Nightwing he had no need for that moniker anymore but he couldn't help but feel betrayed when he saw the new Boy Wonder. Dick hated that the second he saw the new Robin in a dirty red hoodie that hung off of him, he wanted to take care of him. Black shaggy hair and glacier blue eyes that studied everything, a trait that would make Bruce proud. Dick quickly noticed that he would sit facing exits, wouldn't react well to sudden touches or movements, would hunch over his food and never turn anything down, even Alfred's waffles.
Jason grew on him, he had a temper that rivaled Connor's and a mouth that could make a sailor blush but he was untrained. He was Robin for the wrong reasons, Bruce didn't think he heard that conversation with Alfred so Dick tried to teach Jason, train him. He became easy buddies with Artemis and Zatanna, but preferred to be underfoot of Barbara, learning how to hack and wreak havoc on computers not just real people. Kaldur was impressed that if Jason was ever without gadgets he would find anything in arms reach to fight his opponents with a tire iron, a trash can lid, once another thug. Wally looked after Jason like a younger brother, they would try to out eat each other and Wally apparently wasn't jealous when 70 pound 4'10 Jason quickly packed on muscle and grew to be taller than him. M'gann and Jason avoided each other. They got along well enough, it was just alarming for Jason to know someone who could easily poke around in his brain. Connor would get offended by that and Jason would make sure to tell him where he could put his opinion. Garth and Jason would study together because Jason dropped out when he was 8 or so. Jason quickly caught up to his peers because of a sense of pride and determination.
Dick found April 27th to be hard for him. He remembered walking out of the Zeta tube joking with Koriand'r, after being off world. He remembers Dinah walking up to him and Barbara pulling them aside and telling them that Robin was dead, kidnapped and killed by the Joker. He remembers nearly collapsing on the ground in shock as Barbara stiffened and Dick tried not to cry at the fact that he had to bury his little brother. He remembers asking when the funeral was and Dinah replying that it already happened. That Bruce had buried Jason without letting Dick know, he actually collapsed after that his knees incapable of holding him up anymore. He crumpled on the ground and started sobbing, his brash stubborn baby brother was brutally murdered, beaten and blown up, left for dead. He died alone and Dick should've been there for him, or at the funeral, but he was alone. Bruce was alone and Bruce could have reached him but didn't, yeah they were locked in some sort of pissing contest again but tried to not have it interfere with his and Jason's relationship.
Dick came alone most it was too hard to accompany Bruce, Barbara and Alfred. Kori would join him very rarely, the times where he had to go but he struggled with the walk to his grave. Dick wished he could get used to the angelic headstone looming over his brother's body, it didn't feel like Jason, it felt like Bruce was trying to appeal to some cosmic overlord and make sure Jason got into heaven and didn't come back to haunt whoever spited him that week.
"They buried me in a monkey suit. I get to spend all of eternity as an imposter."
"And bury you in your shitty red hoodie?" Dick replied as he approached Jason's grave messing with the bouquet.
"I liked that hoodie."
"I think that was pa-" Dick trailed off when he saw Jason's grave desecrated. The angel spray painted with a red line going across her eyes, a line across her mouth to make it look like a macabre grin, the wings having red lines with dashes to make it look like bones. The robes sprayed red in some places to imitate blood, part of the epitaph underlined making it read,"Here lies Jason Peter Todd. My Partner, My Soldier, My Fault. Rest in Peace."
Dick noticed it must've been some sick cosmic joke as the ea was changed to an ie and there was a S added to the end of the word making it pieces. Dick locked his jaw and clenched his hands vaguely aware of the sound of snapping flower stems. He grabbed his phone but jumped when he felt a hand across his shoulder. He turned around and saw Selina looking at him concerned,"Dick, is everything okay?"
Dick's first instinct was to blame her, just have someone to pin this mess on, but she was important to Jason, so he looked down before jerking his head sharply back at the grave stone. Selina's grip tightened on the thick file and the robin toy she was holding,"No. It's not."
Selina studied the headstone,"Sick fucking bastards."
Dick shifted from foot to foot,"Do you think it was-?"
Selina shook her head,"He wouldn't make it this public, he doesn't care about the man behind the mask, he only cares about the big bad. Because of Jason and Bruce's reaction we're a little stricter about what happens to Robins. There was always an unspoken line with you guys, no one was supposed to cross it ever."
Dick nodded in understanding as she set the robin toy down at the angel's feet, along with the beat up bouquet,"What's with the file?"
Selina held it out to him,"Found it in my mailbox, addressed to you, and your little band of misfits."
Dick took the file weighing it in his hands, it was rather solid, He tucked it into his arms,"You know who sent it?"
Selina raised an eyebrow at him,"Kitten, if I knew I would tell you. But it's safe, no nasty surprises. Worst comes someone figured out your night job."
Dick nodded as Selina began to walk away, Dick flickered his eyes around, feeling someone watching him. He couldn't spot anybody but that didn't prevent the uneasiness settling into his stomach, like something awful was going to happen. He didn't think he would be capable of burying another friend or family member. He looked at the ruined grave and sighed shaking his head before walking back to his motorcycle.
Dick entered the Watchtower and began to head for the Young Justice base of operations, he saw Jaime, Gath and Bart discussing something by the bookshelf. He opened the file Selina gave him and saw several flash drives, a laptop that was scuffed and various papers contains the notes on tracking where the joker was and trying to make a pattern of his activities. He grabbed the first flash drive and hacked into it seeing a view of Jason's grave. He furrowed his brow and saw the ground collapse underneath the angel, the dirt shifted as a hand shot out of the ground followed by another as Jason pulled himself from his grave, occasionally stopping as he would cough from the pain and breathing in the dirt. Jason finally pulled himself out of the grave and curled up on himself and Dick was thankful for the lack of audio, he wouldn't be able to handle Jason's screams. He watched as Jason pushed himself onto his knees and began to wail. Something prompted him to stop as he pulled himself up to his feet and he began to limp out of the graveyard. Dick felt his eyes burn as he rewatched the clip trying to make sure that he did see Jason pulling him sell out of the grave. Dick glanced at the time stamp seeing that he pulled himself out almost 5 years ago and no one knew, no one began looking for him. Dick had been visiting an empty grave for years, and he didn't know.
