Wandering through the halls Jason was searching for Alfred or anyone else really. Bruce had adopted so many kids it was a wonder that he couldn't find any now when he actually needed to talk to them. When Jason wanted to be left alone it was like he turned into a magnet for Steph, or Damian to come find and bitch to about anything and everything. Noticing that it was almost time for lunch Jason wandered into the main kitchen of the manor hoping to find Alfred there.
Alfred was in the kitchen seemingly preparing a plate to bring to Bruce.
"Hey, Alfred," Jason interrupted. "Can we talk? It's important."
"Of course, master Jason just let me finish first."
"Yeah, sure you're making lunch for Bruce because he refuses to leave the Batcave and interact or try to mourn with the rest of us."
Alfred could only sigh and look down regretfully "You know how master Bruce is, he was like this when you died and I fear that he's n-"
"He's spiraling into his self-destructive tendencies and refusing to even try to heal!" Jason spat out interrupting Alfred for a second time. " Apparently this is how he handles trauma, it happened with his parents, it happened with me and now it's happening again with Dick!" Jason stood angrily green filling his vision. "Bruce doesn't know how to process grief, and now I'm stuck with all of Dick's familial duties and I don't know how he managed to pull Bruce out of it the first time."
"If I may Master Jason, it was not Master Dick that pulled Bruce out of his head the first time but Master Tim. Maybe you should go back up and talk to him after lunch is served. Could you please get everyone in the Mannor while I bring this tray down to Master Bruce?" Alfred stoically said
Trudging back up the long staircase feeling defeated Jason stopped outside of Damian's door first. Taking a calming breath as the green slowly faded from his vision he pushed open the door. "Damian, Alfred said to come down for lunch we're going to eat together like a 'real family should'". Without waiting for the inevitable angry answer Jason closed the door and walked down the hall to Cassandra's room. This was going to be a bit more difficult, Cass was only home because it was the holiday season and Bruce asked her to be home for Hanukkah otherwise she would probably be anywhere but Gotham.
Slowly pushing open the door Jason poked his head into Cassandra's room. "Hey Cass. Alfred made lunch and he wants us to come down and eat together." Cass looked up at Jason from her position at the desk. He couldn't see exactly what she was working on but he could tell it wasn't anything 'family friendly'. She gave Jason an intense look but stood up and brushed past him heading down to the dining room.
The next room Jason had to visit was Tim's. Throwing open the door he called into the room. "Yo, Tim Alfred said lunch is ready and that we're all eating together so you have to come down. There's no use in trying to avoid this." With that Jason walked away leaving the door wide open.
"Goddammit Jason! I was in the middle of something and you just ruined it!" Tim yelled as he stormed down the stairs reminiscent of Damian's many temper tantrums. "What's the matter with you! Everything was so much better when you were gone and not trying to be Dick. Stop trying to fill his shoes, you're never going to be him!"
Alfred's voice cut through Tims rant "If you're quite done Master Tim I believe it's time for lunch. If you could all sit down at the table together without causing bodily harm to one another that would be preferable."
Fuming silently Tim sat down as far away from everyone else as he could. Lunch proceeded silently after that. Tim was a master of avoidance and it had only gotten worse when Dick Grayson had died. Jason was unexpectedly thrown into the position of the oldest sibling, having to manage all of Tims emotional outbursts, Bruce's emotional incompetence and Damian's thematic rise back to life from Apokolips had necessitated Jason to stay with and interact with his family longer then he anticipated.
Jason knew that it now fell to him to pull Tim out of his head. He wasn't one of Tim's Young Justice friends and he certainly wasn't Dick Grayson but he would have to do. The faster the holidays were over the faster Jason could get back to his own life and ignore this whole debacle. Deciding to take the plunge he once again walked straight into Tim's room without preamble.
"Ok, Timmy you need to get your head on straight. I don't want to be the oldest I know that I can't measure up to Dick Grayson, hell no one in this family could, but right now it's my responsibility to make sure that the holiday's proceed cleanly so I can go back to my own life!" Jason yelled. Tim looked furiously at Jason and opened his mouth to retort but Jason cut him off before he had the chance "We have until the last day of Hanukkah December 28th to work all this out. I don't know what your problem is but you've got to get over it right now."
"Fuck off Jason, no one asked you to be here, if you hate this family so much why don't you just fuck off and go back to..wherever it is you go when your not here." Tim seethed
"I'm trying to get through to you Tim, I know we didn't get off on the right foot but-" Jason started
"But nothing, you hate it here, you hate me, you hate Damian and you definitely hate Bruce. You've made it abundantly clear that you hate almost everyone in this family. You Dick never got along there was too much animosity from both sides so I don't even know why care that he's dead." Tim's voice growing louder and louder with every word
"What makes you think that I didn't care about Dick, yeah we had our grievances in the beginning but we worked it out. He was my brother first, the adopted son's of Bruce Wayne sticking it out together. He taught me how to be Robin and how to read Batman's moods, yeah I don't remember some of the early stuff but even after the Pit Madness Dick still tried to help me. I gave him shit I didn't want his help but he still helped me, through all the arguing and fighting we were family and I cared about him. I was just as destroyed when he was killed by the Crime Syndicate. So don't act like you're the only one who cared." Jason snapped
Turning to face Jason head on, Tim said something that shocked Jason to hsi core. "Why do you keep saying that! You go on and on about how you and Dick get along now but you keep saying that you and Dick were adopted, Dick Grayson was never adopted by Bruce Wayne!"
Jason took a step back, shocked by this new revelation. All this time he thought that Bruce had adopted Dick long before Jason was even in the picture but now learning that Dick was just Bruce's former ward all of their earlier interactions made a lot more sense. The aggravation the coldness towards him. How angry Dick was when he found out that Bruce had made him Robin, how crushing it must have felt to see the man who had raised him from eight years old just let their connection fade away while he plucked up some orphaned street rat and adopted him right away when he had never given Dick that option. It was as heartbreaking as it was maddening, Bruce not realizing the pain he had caused his eldest and just moving on.
As if sensing his inner turmoil Tim said "It always caused him pain you know, Batman….Bruce that he just let his connection with Dick wither away and die, but there's nothing we can do about it now. I just assumed that you knew you were the first adopted son of Bruce Wayne." Tim trailed off. The two of them stood there in silence as Jason let Tim's words replay in his mind, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened.