There is total silence in the cave for a long minute after Damian's pronouncement. Jason is trying to work up the gumption to swear at Damian, but he doesn't want to put words out there that will disturb the non-existent echo of their father's voice.
Dick is stronger, wiser . . . always has been. He drew himself up, and stared down his much-taller baby brother. "Damian. Go to bed."
The half Bat-clad man scowled. "I am not a child."
"You are acting like one. Go to bed." Dick pointed towards the staircase. "Now."
"I have things to do," Damian sniffed, regally. "Reports and maintenance—"
"Not anymore," Dick interrupted firmly. "Red Hood and I will be patrolling tonight."
Damian studied them both for another long moment before nodding: "Very well, but you should also take the opportunity to rest . . ."
Dick waved him on. "Right behind you."
Jason waited for their little brother to disappear before collapsing in the computer chair. "It's not cute anymore when he freaks out about us fighting."
"I still think it's adorable," Dick countered, fetching medical supplies on his way back to Jason. They're not going to discuss Bruce. They never do.
"That's because you're a freak," Jason snorted, running a hand through his hair. "And I don't need stitches." He frowned at the shallow slice on his thigh. He had done battle with barbed-wire earlier in the evening while on the run from a flaming Chihuahua—how was this even his life?
Dick ignored him with the ease of longstanding practice, and Jason settled back in the chair. It wasn't worth arguing. "It was a stupid idea."
Dick nodded, making tiny neat stitches down the length of the cut. "It's hard to not fix Timmy sometimes."
"He doesn't need to be fixed," Jason snorted. "He needs a shrink and a vacation to the Caribbean."
Dick snorted. "I don't think that will go over well."
"No, it probably wouldn't," Jason grimaced. "It's not the mirrors, Dick. It's not the photographs. It's not talking or other people or anything else—not really. He's afraid of what he'll see and hear. He's afraid of what will look right back at him."
Dick tied a simple knot. "Then we just have to keep telling him that there's nothing wrong with him."
Jason shook his head. Dick was the golden boy; he didn't understand. Hopefully, his older brother never would.