I don't know how I did it, all of these three chapters and next two (three?) were supposed to be one chapter.
Extra longer today :)
Thank you all for wonderful reviews!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Batman/Nightwing/Red Hood and it's characters.
Dick knew he really should focus on his freaking out little brother, but he didn't even know how cold he was until Jason caught him. Jay radiated warmth so Dick threw his arms around his neck, wrapped his legs around his waist and snuggled into Jason's chest despite the hard body armor, his body shuddering at the change in temperature. That seemed to wake Red Hood from his stupor.
"Jesus Christ. Okay," Jason said to no one in particular, simultaneously regretting and being glad he decided to come when he did. "Okay."
He gathered Dick closer, sliding one hand under his legs to support him and tugging the lapels of his jacket as far as they would go with the other in an attempt to provide more warmth for him. And then he froze again momentary as he realized Dick didn't have any clothes on him besides the shirt, so Jason's arm was currently touching his naked butt. Jesus, no wonder the kid was one tiny icicle. Jason pulled the shirt Dick was wearing down over his arm to cover as much exposed skin as possible.
"What were you doing?" Jason asked, eying the mess Dick made.
"I'm hungry," Dick complained.
Jason closed his eyes and counted to ten in an attempt to calm himself down, which didn't do much, because he was still freaking out at finding his older brother turned into child. If Dick managed to almost kill himself just getting a meal, Jason didn't want to think what he could do to himself doing other things.
"Alright," he finally said and started toward the bathroom. "Let's get you cleaned up first."
Dick nodded, clinging tightly.
"Do you know who I am?" Jason checked. Dick did send him the message and apparently recognized him, but it won't hurt to know what he remembered.
"Red Hood. Jason Todd," the kid promptly replied.
"Batman?" Jason continued as he closed the door to the bathroom behind them to let the room warm up quicker.
"Bruce," Dick answered and made a protesting sound as Red Hood moved him to his left side so he was resting against his hip securely to free his arm.
"Tim?" Jason leaned down over the bathtub and turned on the tap with hot water.
"Red Robin," Dick sighed. "I'm still me, Jason. I remember everything. I'm just… smaller."
"More like tiny," Jason smirked, checking the temperature of the water.
"Hey!" Dick protested indignantly.
Jason chuckled and satisfied with the temperature put the plug in the drain to let the bathtub fill with warm water.
"Do you know what happened to you?" Red Hood asked while they waited.
Dick looked away and shrugged. Jason narrowed his eyes. Even if he didn't know everything, Dick definitely knew something.
"Someone attacked you?" he prodded. Just a touch too aggressively.
"No," Dick protested, looking back at him. "Nobody attacked me. Nobody cursed me or the likes." The blue eyes practically begged Red Hood to stop asking questions, "It's nothing bad. I promise."
"Okay," Jason let it drop for now. "Here," he shifted the boy so he could grab him under his arms and lowered him down towards the bathtub. "Is the water okay?"
Dick stretched one of his legs to touch the water. It was pleasantly warm.
"Yeah," he replied. "It's great."
"Good," Jason lowered him all the way down, but didn't let him go. What if in the moment Jason moved away he'll slip and crack his head open on the edge of the bathtub? "Sit down, would you?"
Dick rolled his eyes at his paranoia, but obediently sat down in the shallow water. It was barely an inch high.
Red Hood turned off the tap and grabbed a soap. Then he hesitated.
He was still slightly torn between running away and hovering protectively over tiny version of his older brother. While running away would fix all Jason's problems, he would be leaving a defenseless and helpless Dick on his own. And that was the complete opposite of what Jason came to Blüdhaven for. Treating Dick like a child wasn't really an option either. Dick apparently was still an adult and despite him being accepting of Jason's attention so far, there had to be a line somewhere. Giving Dick a bath definitely was one, right?
He handed Dick the soap.
"Clean up," he ordered, moving to the door. "I'm going to grab you a new shirt. Don't drown yourself while I'm gone."
"I'm not a child!" Dick scoffed after him.
"You are now!" Jason yelled back.
Red Hood went to the bedroom, shucking off his jacket, armor and weapons. He laid them neatly near the bed, where they were mostly out of sight and opened the closet. He eyed critically the selection of clothes and grabbed the first shirt that got his attention and wasn't ripped. After a quick consideration he took the three destroyed shirts and a blanket too. He headed to the kitchen and quickly cleaned the mess, using already destined for trash shirts as rags. With cleaning done he went back to the bathroom. Those few minutes were enough for Dick to wash himself and he didn't want to leave him alone any longer. What if he really did drown? It was awfully quiet.
Jason opened the door and stared for a second, because yeah, Dick really wanted to off himself today. The kid was totally naked, the discarded shirt floating slightly in the water, standing on the edge of bathtub and without much luck trying to tug free a towel off the rack near the bathtub. As nice of a view it would be if Dick was an adult, now it was just plain weird, so Jason moved forward and had the kid bundled in the towel in two seconds flat. Startled eyes peered up at him from between folds of the towel as he placed Dick on the closed toilet and started rubbing the material to dry him off. Jason glared at him. If Dick really wanted to behave like a child, then Jason will treat him like a child.
"You do something stupid like that, you deal with consequences," he stated.
Dick opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it and just sighed.
"Sorry. It's just... You didn't come back and the water got cold," he explained.
"You could call me," Red Hood pointed out.
"You were busy," Dick mumbled out.
Jason stopped. Dick knew he could ask for help anytime, right? When they needed him, Dick always dropped everything to help them. Surely Dick knew they would do the same for him, right? Nightwing rarely, if ever, called for help and Jason started to think it had more to it than just Dick being that damn good.
"I'm never too busy to help you, Dickie-Bird," Jason assured, taking hold of kid's shoulders and looking into his eyes, which widened slightly in wonder at his words. Yep, Jason was definitely glad he came right after receiving that text. He will need to have a nice, little chat with Bat Brats about how they were treating their eldest brother. This couldn't go on. "Got it?" he checked, shaking the boy slightly to get his point across.
"Got it," Dick repeated affirmatively with a small smile.
Red Hood finished drying him off and handed him the shirt. He left him to get dressed while he busied himself with cleaning the bathtub and hanging the wet shirt and towel to dry. Then he wrapped the kid in a blanket and carried him to the couch.
"So," Jason looked around for something to do. "What now?"
"Food," Dick replied just as his stomach growled loudly in demand of nourishment. Jason smirked. Dick glared. "I need clothes. And a ride to the manor." It was Dick's turn to smirk and Jason's to glare.
Then Dick did something Jason wasn't prepared for in the slightest. He used his most deadly weapon. The puppy dog eyes. If they were irresistible on the adult, they were hundreds of times more powerful on the child. This little pout was just too fucking adorable. The big, bad Red Hood immediately melted into a puddle of goo from the cuteness.
"Please?"
"Alright!" Jason surrendered. "Jesus. Goddammit! Just stop!"
"You'll stay at the party?" Dick checked.
"Yes, I'll stay," Red Hood growled. "Now, stop it already."
Dick smiled at him beatifically, the little shit.
Jason stomped to the kitchen, cursing at him under his breath. He came back after a minute with a bowl of cereal.
"You don't have anything else to eat," he pointed out.
"I cleaned everything out," Dick reached for the bowl Jason handed him. "Alfred always gives me tons of food when I'm leaving the manor."
"Careful," Jason smirked. "I might come just to steal some of the goodies off of you."
"You're always welcome, Jay," Dick replied.
And fuck. The sudden guilt was like a punch to the gut. Shit. They had so much to fix.
"Anything particular you want to wear?" Jason quickly changed the subject.
"Not really," Dick shrugged. "Just something that fits better."
"Alright then. Do you need something before I go?"
Dick shook his head.
"Okay," Jason sighed, running one hand through his hair. "I'll be back soon. I'll lock the door. Try not to kill yourself, please."
Dick nodded without a word.
Jason headed to the front door. His Red Hood outfit could easily pass as civilian clothes without his gear but he still grabbed Dick's jacket from the hanger. It was a bit tight, but if he didn't try to zip it, it looked alright on him. With a quick final goodbye Jason finally made his escape.