When Dick woke up in the morning in his bed in his room at the manor, he was alone. He tried not to be disappointed by that. It wasn't like Jason would sleep with him every night and he tried not to get too used to that for this very reason.
Dick frowned a little. He clearly remembered Jason grumbling as he wrestled him out of his Tiny Nightwing uniform, Dick too uncoordinated in his fatigue to do it by himself, and then carrying him upstairs and laying him down on the couch in the living room. Then Jason said something about getting their stuff and being back in a minute. Dick just curled up under the blanket Jay threw over him and went to sleep. And woke up alone. In his bed. At the manor. Where he wasn't meant to be, if Jason's intention to leave yesterday was any indicator.
Did Red Hood changed his mind? It was possible, since the bag was still by the door, though Jay seemed quite happy to leave the manor for patrol last evening.
Dick sighed, throwing the covers off of him. The stuffed elephant fell to the side with the movement. Dick eyed it suspiciously. He didn't thought much of it before, too focused on being worried to care much from where his sources of comfort came. He picked it up and held it for a moment experimentally. Yeah, the soft toy made him feel a little better, so he shrugged and hugged it to his chest. Everyone had seen him with it already, so he didn't have any dignity left to lose.
Dick went through his morning routine, put his Red Hood shirt on just to see Bruce twitching and Jay enjoying the view, and went downstairs to the kitchen.
As he expected, Alfred was there, preparing and serving breakfast. Damian was scowling at his plate, stabbing furiously at his meal. Tim sipped his coffee, typing something on his laptop. Bruce was reading a newspaper. All in all, a normal morning at the manor.
"'Morning everybody!" Dick greeted them cheerfully.
They greeted him back, each in their own way.
Dick climbed onto the chair and paused. He looked around, counted the plates. It didn't add up.
"Where's Jay?" he asked.
Tim's typing ceased instantly. Damian made a particularly vicious stab at a piece of egg, nearly breaking the plate. Alfred slowed in his work.
"Jason's not here," Bruce said, taking a sip from his mug, not even bothering to look from around the newspaper he hid himself behind.
"Oh," Dick said in a small voice. He knew it would happen. He prepared for it even. But it still hurt. Jason had to have enough of him after all of this and took his chance to dump Dick on the rest of the Bats and bailed. Maybe if he wasn't so needy and clingy, Red Hood would stay longer-
"Father and Todd got into a fight after he learned he took you on patrol," Damian cut into Dick's self-loathing. "And he decided, that Todd is unfit to look after you and you should stay here."
It took a few seconds for Dick to process the information and come to most likely conclusions.
"What?" Dick let out his best Batman growl, the power behind it not hindered by his childish voice.
Bruce sighed and finally, finally, deigned to lower the paper to look at him.
"Dick-" he started.
"No!" Dick shouted. "You don't get to do that! You don't get to decide what I'm doing with my life! And you definitely don't get to decide with whom I'm spending my time with!"
"Told you," Tim muttered.
"Dick," Bruce tried again.
The kid pushed off the table.
"I'm not hungry anymore," he stated and jumped down. "Thanks, Alfred."
Before anyone could react he ran out of the kitchen, clutching the elephant tightly.
He headed to his room, slamming the door behind him as hard as he could to show his frustration to anyone who followed him. He locked it for good measure. It wouldn't really hold back anyone in this house, but it got his point across, that he didn't want to talk to anybody. Dick slid against the door to sit on the floor, pulled his knees up to his chest, and buried his face in the elephant's soft material, trying to calm down. He had cried enough this past two days. It was embarrassing just how much.
Dick contemplated briefly just sneaking out and going to Jason. But that would just cause more problems than it solved. He didn't know where Jason was. And he just couldn't wander around the city looking for him in his various safe houses. It would be too dangerous for him in his current state. And the Joker was still on the loose. Also the others would unnecessarily worry about him after they would discover he was missing. At last he hoped so. Jay would be furious and mad at him. But why should he care about what Jason thought? He left. He left him! After promising he wouldn't.
Maybe Dick could call him? He uncurled with every intention to do just that, but froze. What if Jason wouldn't pick up? What if he didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore? What if he answered the call just to tell Dick that? But Jason loved him. He fulfilled his wish. But apparently it wasn't enough to make him stay.
Dick sniffed. Being a child was supposed to be fun. Instead it was just one long nightmare of emotional roller coaster. He didn't know what he was thinking and hoped to achieve by agreeing to that. He should just leave things the way there were and stay away as much as he could while being blissfully unaware of his family's stance about him, regardless of how much it hurt him to do so. Being abandoned, for whatever good reason, hurt even more.