Okay then. This is the chapter all of you have been waiting for ;) Plot explanation!
This fic was inspired by Tigrislupa's fic Father Christmas (it's here on FanFiction, if you wish to read, it's great!) and the wish Dick made in there.
Enjoy.
This was new. Jason thought as he looked around at the endless white surrounding him. Since his resurrection it was usually darkness of the coffin or green of the Lazarus Pit that dominated his dreams. Definitely not warm, comforting light. And he definitely didn't know he was dreaming.
"You are asleep, yes," came the feminine voice from in front of him, "but this is not a dream."
Jason shifted into defensive stance and watched warily as from the light emerged a beautiful woman. She had a long dark hair, green eyes and was clad in a long, white dress. Jason squinted at the barely visible outline of something behind her. Fucking hell, did she have wings?!
"Who are you?" Red Hood demanded.
"My name is Alaila," the woman replied. "And I am one of the last Fairies, that took refuge in your world."
Jason raised his eyebrows incredulously.
"Seriously?" he muttered.
"Yes," Alaila smiled warmly at him. "Our kind lived among yours for a few generations now. Though only a few chosen know we exist."
"I'm flattered," Jason said sarcastically. "What do you want?"
Alaila lost her smile and looked pensive.
"I might have made a mistake," she confessed.
Jason bristled. Why she did come to him and then changed her mind about it? He had better things to do than be a plaything for the fucking Fairy.
"You misunderstood me," she placated quickly. "I..." she sighed. "Please, listen."
"Okay," Jason crossed his arms over his chest. "Go on."
"I was in trouble. Real trouble. Your brother helped me and then he made sure I got home safely. I wanted to thank him somehow, so I decided to fulfill his wish."
"You turned him into a child?" Jason demanded as he realized the reason of his older brother being barely three feet tall. Then frowned, "Wait. He wanted to be a child?!"
"No! No," Alaila shook her head. "He wanted," she hesitated. "He was so sad and lonely, and he only wanted hugs from his family."
Jason's fists clenched at the reminder of his, their, failure.
"So you turned him into a child?" he repeated.
"It's natural to hug children," the Fairy woman looked sheepish. "I thought it would help speed up the process. He won't turn back until requirements are fulfilled. The hugs need to be sincere and freely given. They can't be manipulated in any way or initiated by him. He can only talk about it with people who accomplished that, otherwise he will remain a child."
"What?" Jason growled.
Alaila wrangled her hands nervously.
"Those are the terms of that spell. He accepted them, when I explained this to him."
Jason swore under his breath.
"But I might have made a mistake," the Fairy said. "At that time I didn't realize the kind of life you lead or the kind of family you have. He might be in more danger than usual, because I made him a child. He will need your protection. I implore you to help him."
Jason glared. Of course he will help Dick. There was no question about that. But…
"Why me?"
"You care about him the most," she answered and smiled sadly. "And he will need that soon more than ever."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason wanted to know, shuddering with dread. Will something bad happen? Will someone get hurt? Will someone die? What? What?
"You know everything you need," Alaila stated as everything started to blur and dim around him. "Good luck."
"Good luck my ass," Jason muttered angrily as he blinked his eyes open to the ceiling of Dick's bedroom. He laid there for a minute, imagining all the gruesome scenarios before he decided it was pointless. What was supposed to happen will happen and he only could try to be there and prevent it when the time comes. Or pick up the pieces. He rubbed at his eyes tiredly and sighed.
He looked at the sleeping child sprawled across his chest. He snorted, though his heart went out to the man. Fucking hell, hugs from the family.
"Only you could wish for something like that," Jason muttered, carding his fingers through black hair.
Hell, they will need all the luck in the world. There was a higher chance to keep all the supervillains in Arkham for a whole year than Bruce hugging Dick on his own volition. Damian might be a problem too. But hey! Maybe there was hope after all. Jason would count to be the hardest one of them all and look, he was first to fulfill the requirements. Or he just turned into a big softie. He tried not to shudder at the thought and reached for his phone. He had about half an hour before they needed to get up. He better get some more sleep while he could.