"Eicophobia"- the irrational and persistent fear of home
Jason could feel his nerves returning with a vengeance as the two of them approached the Wayne Manor. Sasha was clinging to him, arms wrapped around his waist as her helmet rested against his leather-clad back.
He really hoped this was going to go well. Most of the time he didn't give a shit, but after the big blowout he'd had with Bruce a while ago, he'd left Sasha in a very awkward position. Jason was determined not to do that to her again- he'd hold his tongue, even if it killed him.
And knowing this bunch, it just might.
They pulled up the long driveway, coming to a halt right in front of the building's steps. Jason bit back a groan when he noticed Bruce standing by the door. He must have seen them through his creepy camera system.
Bruce insisted that he didn't use it to stalk any of them, but Jason wasn't convinced.
"You're late," he growled.
Jason scoffed, reaching up to take off his helmet as he and Sasha jumped off the bike, "What do you want me to say? We're here. Are we gonna do this or not?"
He stormed past him, throwing open the door to head inside. Behind him, Sasha hesitate for a moment.
"Sorry," she whispered, nervously scratching at her arm. "We… were watching a show. I didn't know it was a two-parter, and I wanted to see what happened. It's my fault we were late."
"I'm not upset," Bruce said shortly. He sounded upset. The two stood there in awkward silence for a moment before he coughed, turning around. "We should go in. Alfred already has dinner prepared, everyone's waiting in the dining room."
"Right," Sasha smiled weakly, running to catch up with Jason. He was standing in the foyer, waiting for her and trying to stall for as long as possible.
"You ready?" he said lowly, reaching out to clasp her shoulder reassuringly.
"I think the real question here is whether you are," she replied. Jason grimaced, and the two finally ventured into the dining room, Bruce following right behind them.
Everyone fell silent when they entered, staring expectantly. He hated that, especially when everyone else had their wings out and on full display, and he had nothing and no soul and only scars to show that he'd ever had one at all. Jason awkwardly took a seat, Sasha sitting next to him. Unfortunately, that put her right across from Damian, and Jason already knew that wasn't going to end well.
"Hey, Little Wing!" Dick said cheerfully, always the first to break the tension.
"Hi…" Jason muttered, staring listlessly into his glass of water and really wishing it was booze.
Despite the lackluster response, Dick doggedly pressed on, "So, what have you two been up to lately? Anything fun? Any big jobs?"
Jason shrugged. Sasha took pity on him, however, and answered.
"Well, we haven't really been doing too much. Some drug busts and stuff like that, not anything too major. We've been helping out Roy a lot though, since it's harder for him to patrol his territory now."
"Oh, yeah!" he brightened. "How is Lian doing? I text Roy all the time but he never answers me!"
"What exactly do you text him about?" Jason asked, suspicion rising as he glanced at his older brother.
"Uh…" Dick grinned sheepishly. "Mainly I just send him Selfies."
"That would explain it," Jason rolled his eyes. With that, the whole room just seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Conversations flared back up, Stephanie drawing Sasha in with a question about how she managed to get her hair up in spikes like that, with Cass sitting next to her quietly holding her hand and observing the group.
Jason caught her eye, and the two nodded to each other. He respected Cassandra, though he didn't agree with her methods. They'd constantly fought in the beginning, but they had managed to come to a silent agreement- Jason would refrain from using excessive violence in her presence, and she wouldn't attempt to beat his face in. The deal kind of favored Cass more, but whatever was less likely to end up in pain for him was the better option in this case.
Besides… he'd been trying to tone down the violence by himself, too. Jason still planned on using guns (even if they had rubber bullets), and he would take action if he needed to, but he'd decided that if he really wanted to help Sasha, he couldn't go around shooting every two-bit criminal they came across. He tried to keep that as a last resort, nowadays.
As a result, his relationship with Cass was fairly decent, and her girlfriend Steph was a riot. She knew what it was like to not have Bruce's approval when it counted, so they got along pretty well.
Dick had thankfully been distracted from continuing his interrogation, joining up with Barbara and Alfred to badger an exhausted looking Tim. Damian was scowling, picking at his food and Bruce was sitting loftily at the head of the table, looking over his kingdom with vigilant eyes.
Which left-
"Duke," Jason nodded in greeting. "Nice to meet you. Officially, I mean."
The newest member of the Batfamily gave him a lopsided grin, reaching out to shake hands, "Same. I gotta say, you're lookin pretty good for a guy that's supposedly been dead for eight years. The whole zombie aesthetic is clearly working for you."
Jason let out a startled laugh, gladly shaking the other's hand and absently noting that Duke's skin was only a few shades darker than his own, "I like you already!"
"Glad to hear it," Duke said, a teasing expression in place. "I heard that you gave all the other Robins a little initiation test, but I don't think I'd win against you. You're pretty muscular for a zombie."
"Escaping from your own grave 'Thriller' style definitely does give you some killer abs," Jason acknowledged, leftover tension gradually disappearing.
"Oh? Killer abs?" Duke raised an eyebrow, making Jason almost slap himself at the realization.
"Damn it, that pun was not on purpose. Don't try to pin that on me!"
"Don't worry, I thought it was pretty punny."
"I've changed my mind. Cass is my favorite now."
"Wow, I'm your favorite already?" Duke nudged him with a mischievous leer. His broad wings, layered in varying shades of beige, fluttered in a way that belied his amusement.
Jason just groaned, stuffing a piece of shrimp in his mouth to get out of answering. Okay, so Duke was pretty cool. There's no way he was gonna say that out loud though.
The rest of dinner went much better than expected, honestly. Sure, Tim tried to stab Damian with a fork for grabbing the last piece of pie and Jason had to battle Dick over the paella, but nobody died, so he was counting that as a win. Sasha didn't even attempt to murder Damian at all, which was a bit of a surprise, really.
She had pretty much hated Damian after he had left her and her father behind while engaging Professor Pyg. Jason had a bit more sympathy for this, seeing how torn up Damian had been about it, but it was still a shitty move. And the damn brat attacking him all the time to try and prove himself as the 'ultimate Robin' or some shit like that hadn't done anything to endear himself to her any further.
All in all, Jason was satisfied. Alfred had even gone through the effort to make some of Jason's favorite dishes, which was most appreciated.
After they finished eating, everyone congregated in the living room, settling on the ridiculously expensive couches. Everybody got lulled back into their conversations, Jason nodding along miserably as Duke complained about all the rips he was always getting in his costume.
"And the worst part of it is, it takes forever to get the bloodstains out!" he bemoaned, sighing theatrically. "I mean, my uniform is bright yellow! Which I can admit was a bit of a design flaw, but now it's become my thing."
"I get ya," Jason commiserated. "That was a bitch to deal with when I was still wearing the scaly greens. I will happily confess that it played a large part in choosing to wear nothing but black and red. Bloodstains aren't nearly as much of a concern then."
"True," Duke pondered for a moment. "…Think it's too late to change my look?"
"Hey, Timbo's changed his uniform at least four times in the last year, do whatever the hell you want."
"Shut up, 'Mr. I wear the same jacket every single day'," Tim shot back, overhearing their conversation. "Like anyone should take fashion advice from you."
"My jacket is awesome!" Jason protested, feeling unreasonably offended.
"Sure it is," Tim scoffed, rolling his eyes. His wings, green with faint gray speckles, twitched slightly in what Jason could interpret as a mix of amusement and irritation.
"I like your jacket, Jay," Sasha said loyally.
The others were all sniggering at him, and he could feel the tips of his ears burning, "Screw all of you guys, you're all awful."
"Oh!" Dick perked up, breaking off from his conversation with Damian. "That reminds me!"
What could that statement possibly remind you of? Jason thought worriedly, eyeing the older male with unmasked suspicion.
"Jason…" Dick hesitated for a moment, only continuing when Jason gave him a questioning look. "Well, I was just wondering… Have you- I mean, have you been thinking about physical therapy at all? I know that you said you didn't want to, but I really think you should reconsider-"
"No," Jason snapped, shoulders hunching up defensively. "I already told you my answer on that, and it's no."
"But it would really help with your- your back muscles!" Dick persisted, though he stumbled over the forbidden 'wings' word. "If this is about the money, I'd be happy to-"
"Fuck off, Dickie," Jason hissed, lurching off the loveseat to stomp outside.
"Jason?" Sasha called after, concerned. Jason paused in place for a moment, indecision warring within him.
"I'll be back in a minute," he said finally. "I'm just gonna have a smoke. Don't worry."
Then he left, escaping before anyone else could try to confront him.
He sat down on the steps, digging through his jacket for his pack of cigarettes, only to spew some nasty curses in his native Spanish. Empty.
Damn, he'd forgotten about that.
He leaned forward, scrubbing his hands over his face with a groan. There's no way he could just go back inside after making that whole scene, but he didn't have anything to do out here, either…
Suddenly, he remembered what Sasha had told him earlier. Jason pulled out his phone, tapping on the Messenger icon and bringing up his text conversation with Roy.
Just like Sasha had guessed, there was indeed a series of Grumpy Cat gifs, but there was some real messages at the bottom of the stupid meme spam.
From: Arse Harper
[10:34AM]: jaybird! why won't you answer me
[10:35AM]: do you not love me anymore
[10:40AM]: you're so cruel to me
[10:57AM]: okay fine i guess i'll just call
[10:57AM]: why you gotta twist my arm like this
[10:58AM]: we need to work on our relationship, we are clearly having communication problems
Jason snorted, not willing to admit that the silly messages had actually cheered him up a little. He started to craft his (late) reply.
[8:04PM]: You knew that I had patrol yesterday, what made you think I was gonna be up already?
Only a few seconds later, Roy texted him back.
[8:05PM]: i texted you late! why were you still asleep at 1030, i thought you had plans today
[8:05PM]: I was tired, dumbass. 10:30 isn't that late. And yeah, I'm at the manor right now.
[8:06PM]: oh… you doing okay? you've been cranky lately, and i know visiting your fam never does anything for your nerves
[8:06PM]: I'm fine
[8:06PM]: Thanks for the concern.
[8:07PM]: no prob jaybird! you cool for tomorrow?
[8:08PM]: Yeah. And Sasha said she'd love to babysit Lian, so we're good there.
[8:10PM]: awesome! can't wait to see you
Jason hesitated at that, unsure of what to reply. For some reason, his face was getting hot.
[8:12PM]: You too.
After that, he quickly shut off his phone, embarrassed over that sappy message. He'd have to be extra sarcastic later to him later in order to make up for it.
"Having fun, Master Jason?" Alfred suddenly appeared next to him, almost giving him a damn heart attack.
"I can never hear you coming," Jason said ruefully, clutching at his chest dramatically.
"Indeed," Alfred said primly, his hands clasped behind him. He nodded at Jason's phone, the corners of his lips curling up. "And how is your young man?"
"He's not mine," Jason muttered, though not as vehemently as he would've if it was literally anyone else asking. For all that crap he'd put the family through, and all the shitty things they'd done to him in return, Alfred had always been off-limits.
"If you say so, Master Jason."
"No, really," Jason insisted, not quite sure who he was trying to convince. "Roy means a lot to me, but…"
He trailed off, unsure of where he'd been going with that. Roy meant more than a lot- he'd been the only one to treat Jason with any sense of normalcy after he'd been resurrected with the Joker's love marks still decorating his back. Kori had tried, bless her, but no one on Tamaran had wings. She didn't really understand how much the absence of them changed the way people viewed Jason. How much it disgusted people, how much they pitied him.
Roy had never done any of that. Roy, with his gorgeous golden wings and his amazing hair and his warm and loving personality and even his stupid trucker hat-
Okay, this might be a bit of a problem.
Jason dropped his head back into his hands, whining pitifully.
"Don't worry, Master Jason," Alfred said knowingly, a gentle smile on his face. "I have a feeling that your prospects are not quite as hopeless as you believe."
"Well, I won't find out, so it doesn't matter," Jason said determinedly, standing up. He brushed off his pants before gesturing towards the door. "Ready to go back in?"
"Whenever you are," the elderly butler replied. He stopped Jason before he could reach for the handle, however, clasping his shoulder. "You deserve happiness, Master Jason. I regret that we couldn't be the ones to give it to you, but things have changed too much. We can't be your answer anymore. If Mr. Harper is your answer, than I encourage you to try and tell him that. There can be little lost, when searching for love."
"Thanks, Alfred," Jason said, swallowing thickly. Embarrassingly enough, he could feel his eyes watering up slightly.
Alfred just smiled, an infinite amount of wisdom lying just below the surface.
"Don't know what any of us would do without you," Jason laughed, and it was funny because it's definitely not a joke. Their family would crash and burn without Alfred there to guide them.
"Let us hope you'll never have to find out," he replied modestly.
/=\
Once inside, things pretty much leveled out.
"Look, I'm really sorry Little Wing," Dick had tried to apologize. "I know you can take care of yourself, I didn't mean to imply that you-"
"Forget it," Jason interrupted. When Dick looked about to protest, Jason softened. "No, really. Yeah, you shouldn't have pushed. But I shouldn't have snapped at you when you were only trying to help, and I shouldn't have stormed off in a hissy fit. Wanna just call it even?"
"Deal," Dick said, a relieved smile on his face.
When he sat back down, Sasha curled up next to him, clutching his hand shyly. She then returned to her conversation with Duke, but she didn't let go. Jason squeezed her hand in thanks, silently grateful.
He was okay. It was all okay.
