Slapping his alarm off, Dick remembered it was his turn to run his body
Someone knocked on his door. "Master Richard, it's time to get up."
Groaning, he turned his head over towards the door. "In a minute Alfred!" He yelled.
'So should we meet the old man in the cave?' Terry asked as Dick rolled out of bed.
"Yeah…" Dick mumbled. "Lemme grab some clothes first."
Yesterday had been a bust when it came to trying to switch. Neither boy really wanted to talk about it. That kid they found, that wasn't Matt, might spark up a conversation later. Seriously, the kid was awesome with that camera… maybe they saw Matt while they were sneaking around taking pictures? If the two can find them maybe some questions could be asked.
And then Terry actually explained gender to him. (Dick may be a detective in training, but his school didn't actually teach him these things. Truth be told, Dick speculated that humans were actually capable of these things, but he never actually got around to research. Maybe one day he'll go and see what his identity is, but he does not feel like doing that while Terry was inhabiting his body. It would be too weird.)
The small teen grabbed a random shirt, a red/orange hoodie, a brown jacket, black jeans and sneakers. Putting on his usual sunglasses was no big deal. As was changing his hair to his usual 'undercover Robin' style. Starting at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but notice the change of look from Terry's. From the way he holds himself to the hair. If Dick was honest with himself, he thinks that going down the 'twin' route with Jason would work. Not to say that he didn't before.
Just noticing the differences in appearance wise helps bring the illusion. After all, don't some twins try to make themselves look different to keep a sense of individual identity?
Dick wasn't going to use the accent though.
"Master Richard?" Alfred's muffled voice broke Dick from his thoughts.
"Coming!" He called out.
Taking one last glance at the mirror, he grinned and thought, 'are you ready?'
Terry snorted. 'Only if you are.'
Walking to the door, the grin transformed into a smirk. 'You bet I am.'
Entering whatever was on the other side of the tube, Robin saw that they were the first ones. Well, except for the Green Lanterns fixing up the place with Hawkman, Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, and Black Canary.
"Mind telling me where we are again B?" Robin glanced at his mentor.
"A cave within Mount Justice." He replied curtly.
Memories of researching Mount Justice came to mind. Robin began to wonder what they would do with a compromised cave.
But then a snort rattled his head. 'Seriously? "Mount Justice"? That has to be the most ridiculous name I ever heard.' The other Batman laughed.
Honestly? He wasn't wrong. 'Okay yeah, dunno why exactly they would name this place Mount Justice. Especially since they used to have their HQ here.'
'Wait seriously? They had an HQ inside of a mountain called Mount Justice? The Justice League? Are you serious?'
Robin was trying very hard not to start cackling. 'Sounds like we found another difference between our universes.'
Scoffing, Terry thought back, 'no kidding.'
Evidently, talking to Terry was great while waiting as surprisingly enough, Flash and Kid Flash walked in next.
"Yo Rob!" Kid Flash, or Wally as he was in his civvies, called out. It wasn't all that surprising that Wally was wearing his white long sleeved shirt with the blue button up shirt on top. Nor was it surprising to see him wear dark brown pants and black sneakers. Wally tended to wear baggy shirts, or multiple layers depending on the time of year, in order to hide his body type. Speedsters tend to show off a little bit and what better way to blend in than to hide what you got.
Raising a hand, Robin waved. "Yo."
Walking faster, Wally caught up to him. "Guess who I brought with."
Coming from behind The Flash, was Superboy. Who was wearing proper shoes, jeans, and a black t-shirt with a red Superman symbol on it.
'He certainly looks…' Terry started, noticing Superboy's demeanor at the same time as Robin.
Superboy looked… kind of depressed.
'Probably has to do with what B told us the other day.' Robin thought back.
'I think I would be too, if I were him. Think he'll let us cheer him up?'
'Hey, he's got no choice in the matter. We're going to be his friends no matter what.'
"Hey there Sups!" Robin called out with a grin.
A grunt was given in return.
"He was staying over at my place," Wally overtook the attention, "and I'm pretty sure he slept inside the closet."
He raised an eyebrow at this. "Wait really?"
"Yeah, but whatever. We don't have a guest room and our couch isn't exactly comfy."
Robin hummed.
"Oh! That reminds me!" The red head rummaged around his pocket. He then slapped a dollar to the boy wonder's face.
"Dude, what the heck?" He took the money, slightly rubbing his cheek, and saw it was a five dollar bill. "What's this for?"
"The bet from Cadmus." His best friend said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Robin just stared at him.
'I had said "how much you want to bet that's Desmond" back when I first got control.' Terry filled in.
"Wally. I was joking."
"Whatever. You're five bucks richer."
Shrugging away the transaction, Robin put the money in his pocket. Deciding to observe more of the area while they wait for Aqualad, Robin subtly tuned Wally out.
It was big, and since it was a freaking cave inside a mountain, that was saying something. Ultimately Robin would have to actually explore it in order to see if it's larger or smaller than the Batcave. However since it was pretty much empty, it gave the illusion that it went on forever. That would change quickly if it gets filled in.
"-and I had to introduce him to toast!" Wally's voice finally broke through.
"Huh." Robin simply said to, hopefully, indicate that he was indeed listening.
Hearing the foot falls of someone else, Robin turned to see that Aqualad with Aquaman had arrived without his knowing.
Aqualad himself was wearing a long sleeved blue and black jacket and if Robin was being honest, it looked a little warm to be in. True it was good to hide his tattoos, but it had to be uncomfortable. It even went up to his neck. At least his pants looked comfy.
"Everyone here then?" Batman questioned in his way that really was a statement.
"Yes." Aquaman confirmed.
Together, the teens formed a line, ready for the final verdict. And the other heroes moved accordingly.
'Well, let's get this over with huh.' Terry murmured.
"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League." Batman said. He walked down the line, not looking exactly at them. "Since you four are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms."
Red Tornado and Black Canary walked forward, away from Hawkman and Aquaman, towards the group. Batman spoke once again. "Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training." He paused for a moment to stare at the young heroes. "She is also the one you go to if you feel the need to talk."
At this Black Canary took another step forward. "I am technically both your trainer and counselor, and I want to make this clear: anything you want, or need, to say to me will be confidential. This means that I won't tell anyone unless you want me to. It's up to you." She looked over to Batman and nodded before stepping back.
The Dark Knight nodded back. He then turned to stare back at Robin. "I will deploy you on missions."
"Real missions?" Robin couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, but covert." There was always a 'but'.
The Flash took that as his cue. "The League will still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests." He then tapped his chest.
"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly." Aquaman turned to Batman as if to confirm this.
And the man did. "The five of you will be that team."
'Did he just…?' Terry whispered.
Elation filled Robin. "Cool!" Then he realized something, catching on to Terry's suspicion. "Wait. Five?"
Batman looked up, behind them to the tube. Robin, and the others, turned around to see what he was waiting for. There was no light. From the darkness came the Martian Manhunter and someone else. A younger looking, green skinned, red haired girl.
"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece Miss Martian." Batman introduced.
"Hi." She waved, smiling. Her voice wavered a little, most likely nervous.
"Liking this gig more every minute." Wally muttered over to Robin. He then walked forward towards Miss Martian. "Welcome aboard. I'm Kid Flash. That's Robin," Robin quickly waved, "Aqualad. It's cool if you forget their names."
'Wait isn't that 'I love you' in sign language?' Terry whispered, sounding like he was going to laugh.
Robin's mind zipped around, remembering that yes having the pinky, pointer finger, and the thumb out was the American Sign for 'I love you'. Embarrassment flooded his face.
'Oh my god I hate you so much Ter.' He mumbled with venom as he quickly put his hand down. Oh, and not to mention try not to suddenly blush as red as his suit.
Terry was full on laughing.
"I'm honored to be included." Miss Martian clapped her gloved hands together.
Really wanting not to be super embarrassed, and really hoping that no one would try to read his mind at that moment, Robin grabbed Superboy's hand as he made his way over.
The Kryptonan jerked.
"Come on, Superboy." He said, turning his head to the teen. "Come meet Miss M."
Almost as if coming out of a daze, Superboy followed.
Robin watched as Miss Martian changed her clothes, making the cape recede and black overtake the white of her shirt the moment Superboy had come into the vicinity.
"I like your t-shirt." She said, a bit shyly.
There was no way Robin, or even Terry, missed the smile Superboy gave her. So Robin did what anyone does when someone doesn't say anything. Elbow them in the chest. Superboy really needed to remember how to say 'thank you.'
Of course Wally then zipped over to Superboy, and put an arm around his shoulder. Together, the boys looked over at Aqualad.
Aqualad looked back at them, smiling. "Today is the day." He said.
And then they really began to mingle.
"So what's life like on Mars?" Robin asked, giving his attention back to Miss Martian.
She gave a nervous laugh. "Oh, not as colorful as it is here when it comes to plants. From what I've seen your planet has us beat."
It wasn't quite the answer to the question, but it was still interesting.
Wally made some lame 'ahem' like noise, trying to look cool. "I can show you some more of the prettier plants we have. Such as flowers if you want."
'Wow, that was a bad move.' Terry sniggered. Robin rolled his eyes and then flicked Wally's arm with a smirk.
"But, I uh, have seen quite a few Earth shows, and Mars doesn't exactly have school like you do."
Aqualad smiled at that. "I'm sure you haven't seen anything about Antlantis, and I assure you that we don't quite have schools like humans do either."
This seemed to make her relax a little. "Oh really? What's it like then?"
It went on like that, Miss M and Aqualad talking about their cultures while Wally interrupted trying to make a move. Conner watched.
"Well, I hope you'll like your time here on Earth!" Robin grinned at her, speaking up after what seemed like a while.
A more confident smile grew on Miss M's face compared to the shy one from earlier. "I will! Thank you Robin."
They all talked for what felt like hours yet no time at all.
Checking the time, Robin knew he had to leave. He had a meeting to keep after all. Sure he had like an hour to spare, but he still would like to have time to get ready.
Not to mention, but time to think of nicknames that could possibly get on Jason's nerves. After all, isn't giving your younger siblings embarrassing nicknames is what being a big brother all about?
Although it would probably be suspicious if he suddenly left without an explanation…
'Ter, help me out. I need a excuse.' Robin sort of demanded.
'What?' Terry asked before it clicked. 'I don't know. Say you're going to miss a show or something.'
Robin furrowed his eyebrows at that. What show could he possibly miss? He had to think of something- wait a moment.
"Oh shit!" Robin yelled out loud, panicked. "I missed Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood's last episode!"
Possibly everyone in the cave turned to stare at him in bewilderment. But then Wally heaved a long and heavy sigh.
"Dude, isn't it in Japanese?" Wally pointed out, knowing that said point was moot.
"Wally, my buddy ol' pal. It's instantly better due to the fact it's in Japanese. I watched the first Fullmetal in Japanese with English subtitles. So you can understand how weird it is to become intimate with characters that their voices are so ingrained into your mind and then you listen to them in another language and hear different voices that you do not associate with them?" Robin even went in and held his friend, doing a weird slap on the older teen's chest for emphasis during his spiel.
Wally just groaned. "Rob. I doubt there's even English subtitles when it aired."
Robin smirked. "I have a program for that."
The speedster rolled his green eyes. "God you're such a weeb."
He mockingly gasped, putting a hand onto his own chest. "Wally, you wound me. I am totally not a weeaboo. Also I'm kind of surprised you know that word."
Wally said, voice fully deadpanned, "I'm your friend and have to listen to you rant about anime all the time."
Robin smirked at this. "Then you know how important it is for me to leave."
He then turned to the Dark Knight, who was watching the whole exchange in silence, and said, "B we need to go! Or at least me. I need to go."
'To the bathroom?' Terry immediately asked.
Embarrassment filled Robin. 'Oh my god shut up.' Out loud he said, "my show is waiting for me!"
'Hey, when you live with a nine year old, and when they say something you automatically go in for the kill.' Terry defended himself.
'Well, I'm not a nine year old!'
Batman grunted. Robin's plea was accepted.
'You sound like a nine year old.' Terry retaliated.
Inwardly Robin gasped. From that moment on, he knew he had to have his revenge.
To keep up appearances, and genuinely wanting to watch the last episode, Dick ran straight to Alfred.
"ALFRED DID YOU RECORD FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST?" Dick yelled, still running to Alfred.
"No running please young master." Alfred simply said. He didn't even look away from the vase he was cleaning.
Slowing down, Dick did what was asked. He then started to bounce a little, on his feet since Alfred didn't like it when he bounced on his hands, once he stopped in front of the butler. "But did you get it?" He asked.
"Yes. Unfortunately there were no subtitles provided." Alfred glanced to the side over to the teen. "However I do believe you would enjoy it otherwise." A small smirk even adowned the man's face.
Dick wasn't disappointed that his program seemed to have failed, because he can totally do that later, but was excited by what Alfred said about the episode.
He then began to wonder if Terry ever actually watched the show before, if his universe even had it, but then realized that he could introduce Terry to the wonderful world of Fullmetal Alchemist! Just the thought made him giddy.
And the feeling of unease from Terry was not justified at all.
"Alfie!" Dick exclaimed. "What I wanna do is have a marathon of the first Fullmetal Alchemist anime, and then the movie, and then the second anime and then I can have a refreshed memory of the story and can see how it ends!"
A single grey eyebrow rose higher and higher as Dick spoke his run on sentence. "Do you wish to use your DVD version?" Alfred simply asked.
"Yes!" Dick chirped. He then remembered the reason why he remembered the anime. "Also I'm going out into the city for a while. Dunno when I'll be back."
The other grey eyebrow met its match high on the forehead. "I appreciate the warning. Do you plan on eating at a restaurant? I do hope this doesn't become a habit as it is rather unhealthy to go and consume fast foods all the time"
At this Dick became sheepish. "I don't eat at fast food chains. I'm just helping the local economy is all." He gave the man a grin to help appeal to the man.
He was given a stare down.
Dick gulped.
"I shall inform master Bruce that you will not be joining him for lunch then."
Dick cheered.
He was a ninja. So sneaky that Bruce didn't notice him leave. And did Dick leave. He went straight to the park, not caring how early he was compared to the appointed time. But as he looked around, he saw that he wasn't the early one as well.
Zeroing in on Jason, Dick ran up to him.
"Jaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyybiiiiiiiirrrrrrrd!" Dick yelled out, slamming right into Jason.
"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" Jason screamed out. Together they fell, Dick, with his arms around Jason. Jason, trying to wriggle his way out of Dick's grasp.
"What the fuck Terry?!" Jason cried out, finally getting out of the death hold.
'Jason, language.' Terry automatically thought. 'Dick, seriously, what the fuck.'
'Oh shut up.' He playfully shot back.
Both boys stood up. Taking notice that Jason was in fact wearing the clothes that Terry bought, a wide smile was brought upon his face.
"Sorry, Terry isn't available to answer right now, I can take a message if you want." He joked. If Terry could he would probably scowl. It certainly felt like Terry would be scowling right then.
Jason just stared at him for a full on minute, not really believing what was in front of him and what had just happened. Then, it clicked. "YOU'RE Terry's twin?!" He shouted, pointing a finger, almost accusingly, at Dick.
"Yep!" He chirped.
"Holy fuck." The younger boy was seemingly in shock.
'Language.' Terry said, again.
Welp. It seemed like he'll have to be on Jason's case. Or else Terry would drive him insane.
"Language." Dick repeated.
That seemed to shake Jason out of his shock. A fierce scowl adorned his face, and he said, "okay. I can see how you're twins."
Dick just grinned.
"Wait a sec." Jason narrowed his eyes before realization hit. "I KNEW HIS ACCENT WAS FAKE AS HELL!"
At that, Dick started to cackle like there was no tomorrow.
"Come on Jaybird, big brother Rob is gonna teach you all the things you need to know when it comes to patching yourself up." He grinned as Jason scowled. "Oh and we should probably go have lunch."
"I already had lunch." Jason was quick to put in.
Rob frowned at this. "But isn't it like, eleven o'clock?" He asked, a tad confused.
It was Jason's turn to be confused. "No? It's noon."
Both boys furrowed their eyebrows. "Well, clearly one of us is wrong," Rob had said putting his hands in his pockets. "Either way, we should get going. We'll find out the real time eventually."
Jason grumbled all the way to Rob's motorcycle and then some.
"Some bandaids… do you want Batman or Superman?" Rob turned to Jason.
"I'm not a baby!" Jason snarled at him. Someone was cranky.
'Do not go with Superman.' Was all Terry said.
"Wonder Woman it is." Rob nodded, but still took the Batman bandaids as well. He also took dinosaur ones because dinosaurs are cool. They'll never not be cool. "Oooo a giant first aid kit."
He disregarded the grumbling behind him and studied what was supposed to be inside the giant first aid kit. It was highly unlikely that Jason would even need a giant thing like that, but Terry would probably go into a tizzy if Jason didn't have the proper materials.
Honestly it was kinda cute that Terry was getting some weird brother/paternal instincts things or whatever going on. He was so denying the fact that he wanted to take care of Jason, but it was clear that he so wanted to take care of Jason. It might be because his little brother isn't exactly there so he was projecting or something onto Jason.
But even if Terry wasn't there, Rob would want Jason to be okay. And if that meant getting medical supplies and teaching him how to take care of himself then he'll do it.
So he grabbed the large first aid kit, a first aid box that was meant for 'sports', and a regular first aid box for the home. He was starting to be glad that they grabbed a cart.
As they walked down the aisles, he put in bandages, medical tape, disinfectant, and so on and so forth. Soon the cart was filled to the brim and Rob was thinking that he might not have enough cash on him to buy all of this. He could use his discreet debit card, or he could withdraw money.
He honestly didn't want Bruce to see what he had bought, but he had to see if there was an ATM around. Sure he might be questioned as to why he withdrew some money but ehhhhh.
So Rob had Jason go do cart watching duty while he claimed to go quick check something. Which wasn't wrong exactly. He withdrew another three hundred dollars to add onto his original three hundred. Gotta keep the emergency stash full. (Except at this point it wasn't an emergency stash and he was seriously thinking about naming it the Jason stash. Because really, now it's more so being used for Jason. On the bright side, not to say that this whole situation was a bad thing except for the fact that in a perfect world Jason wouldn't need Terry or Dick to buy him stuff, Dick and Terry are helping the local economy a bit by buying stuff for Jason.)
(Also truth be told, even with living with Bruce for what, four years still didn't make the feeling of having three hundred dollars let alone six hundred dollars was a lot of money go away. Dick knows by now that that amount wasn't really a lot in the grand scheme of things, but still. Living a life traveling with a circus made someone rich with experience. Not money. Though there were really good days where they made more money than expected. But still.)
As they were checking out, Rob took a glance at the clock behind the cashier. It said it was one o'clock. Well, either way, time passed enough that it didn't really matter which person was right when it came to what time it was when they met. Although maybe Rob should buy a clock, or a watch, for the both of them so they could be consistent on what time to meet and not accidentally stood the other up.
Overall the medical supplies cost less than he expected, but he noticed how Jason still frowned even harder when he heard the end price. (Dick even used coupons! He was actually a bit surprised that there were coupons for medical supplies.)
They had walked out into the parking lot when Jason finally spoke after a long time.
"Don't buy me food. At all." Jason snapped.
Rob turned to the younger boy, frowning. He really looked at the younger boy.
Jason may be looking better with new clothes and shoes, but something dark was starting to grow underneath his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping much. And the clothes he chose to wear were the shabbiest of the bunch Terry had picked out the day before. And that included the shoes.
"Why?" Rob finally asked after that long stretched silence.
"Just don't." Jason replied with cold rage.
Rob was wondering what the change was. He wasn't like this with Terry the day before. Did something happen afterwards?
He watched as Jason began to tremble. He watched as the one clear eye grew red and shimmer.
Instinct took over. With a few steps to close the space between them, Dick gathered a breaking kid into his arms. Someone who was trying to stay strong when they couldn't. He could understand that.
"Stop." Jason's voice muffled into his red hoodie. "Just fucking stop. Why the hell are you here?"
Dick stayed silent. (Bruce would do this with him when he first started living with him. When he was still grieving and hurt and had no idea if he could heal.)
"You and your stupid ass brother come swooping in, acting like you're some fucking heroes. And what? You start… some shit by constantly taking me places to eat. Try to teach me stuff. Fucking buying me clothes. Fucking medical supplies. God damn it." Jason was shaking now.
"WHAT THE HELL. WHY ME? WHY NOT… why not… why not the kids who actually need the help. The little kids who can't defend themselves. Who get beat up for breathing wrong. Who get kicked out into the streets because their parents got murdered or were just stopped by their own parents from going home and can't go into social services or else they'll end up right were they started? Why the fucking punk ass kid who's dad is an abusive prick and mom might fly so high she might never come back down again. The kid who gets into fights so he might not see the way his mom doesn't see him. So he wouldn't fucking see his disgusting eyes look back at him whenever his dad was home. Why me?"
Dick held on tighter, finally understanding as Jason finally let the sobs break free.
Together, Dick and Terry knew that Jason should not go back home. But they don't know where to take him. Maybe with a bit of string pulling, Dick might be able to take Jason's mom to rehab, and hopefully Jason's dad to prison. But what would be left of Jason?
Maybe they should invest in a safe house…
"Listen… Terry and me… we're the kind of guys that can't stand to watch someone get hurt. Just can't stand it. And when Terry came and fought off those gangsters or whatever, it was to protect whoever got hurt. Maybe in a different world it would be someone else. I don't know. But the fact is that he helped you and now he's still helping you and now I'm helping you. And if you need help giving others help, you tell us. And we'll do it." Dick went to pet Jason's head, the same way his mom did to him when he was younger.
Back when he got scared of his own shadow, but not of heights.
"I gave most of the clothes Terry bought me away." Jason finally admitted.
"Most?" Dick asked.
"I'm wearing a new outfit ain't I?" Jason spat out bitterly. "Felt like if I didn't keep at least one outfit then…"
Dick could feel the same emotions he was feeling coming from Terry. Only he wasn't sure who was more furious. Or saddened.
"Then what?" Dick couldn't help but prod softly.
He got a shiver in response.
A wave of protectiveness both his own and not swallowed him whole.
"Jason." Dick slowly pried himself away from the eleven year old. (Eleven. Dick had almost forgotten how old Jason was. Only two years younger than him. Fucking eleven.) "Believe me when I say that Terry and me, we won't do that. And we'll never do that. Any of that stuff that you might be thinking."
Jason was silent. Jason looked like a mess.
"Come on," Dick ended up saying, "let's get you cleaned up. Okay?"
Quickly, they put their stuff in the special basket of his bike. The cycle itself was a special one that Dick hardly used. Mainly for the fact that he didn't really go around lugging stuff, but he had got it just for that purpose. In the famous words of 'just in case.'
Then, Dick took Jason to the restaurant next door. It was honestly very convenient, but there were some people who didn't like the fact that a restaurant decided to move in next to a pharmacy.
Once inside, Dick herded Jason over to the bathroom. The teen wonder had been there before, so he knew that the bathroom had those hand dryers as well as the paper towels.
Jason just needed to be clean.
"Normally I wouldn't suggest using the hand soap to clean hair, but I don't exactly have shampoo with me." Dick slightly joked. A bit more serious, he said, "I heard washing your face helps."
Jason just nodded. They stood there for a moment longer. A step. The younger boy put his hair underneath a spray of water.
The teen let him do his thing, as he stood as watch. It would be awkward for someone to come in while another person was washing their hair and face in the sink.
And yet, unfortunately, it probably wouldn't be as awkward as it could be as this was Gotham. Always has been, and always will be.
"This place is known for its comfort food." Dick suddenly said to break the silence.
A monotone yay was heard over the stream of water.
Dick smirked a little at that.
"I suggest the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy with fried apples." Dick glanced up from his menu.
"This is all southern foods." Jason looked up from his own. "I thought you said this was comfort food."
Jason looked better, with his freshly fluffed hair, and cleaned face. He even washed his hands and arms while he was cleaning up. Both Dick and Terry hoped he felt better too. If not he had a decent mask.
"Apparently a lot of southern food is comfort food." He glanced down back to the menu, looking at an item on it. "Actually I don't know if pepper steak is southern or not."
"I don't think so?"
Dick ended up shrugging. "Whatever. It's good food either way. But seriously eat the fried apples. The cinnamon and the caramelization of the sugar makes it scrumptious."
'Scrumptious?' Terry finally pipes up.
'It's true!'
Jason shrugged.
"They also have vegetarian and vegan options in case you want to try any of that."
Jason shrugged again.
The waiter came. They both ordered a white soda. The waiter left.
'So.' Terry started. 'He gave away his clothes.'
'That he did.' Dick agreed. 'What are you going to do about it.'
'Me? You're the one he's with right now. What are you going to do.'
Dick sighed through his nose. "I think I'll go with some pepper steak. Haven't had that in a while." He spoke aloud to Jason.
Jason grunted. "I think… I think I'll go with that chicken fried steak thing you suggested earlier."
The teen smiled at that.
'I'm going to ask him.' Dick decided.
"So. Wanna buy more clothes?" It was awful but it addressed an elephant in the room.
Jason's head snapped up. He didn't speak.
"Look, you still need some proper training clothes. I promise I won't get as carried away as Terry did."
'Hey!'
'Dude, you did went a little overboard. Maybe that's why Jason's feeling like this.'
He felt the realization and guilt slowly ebb its way towards him.
'Shit.' Terry cursed.
"And if you say stop, I'll stop. Okay? But you should totally keep the medical supplies and learn how to use it. Ya know, if any of those kids need help." Dick tried. He kind of didn't want to get dirty, but it was necessary in order for Jason not to ignore his health.
When Jason winced at that, though, guilt pained his heart.
"Not going to lie that it's a lot." Dick amended. "So if you want, we can go through it together and see what you would want to give away."
The younger boy was hesitant for a moment and then… "okay."
Relief washed over both Dick and Terry, mingling together as a collective smile was given to Jason in response.
After their meal, Dick and Jason sat down in the parking lot as they went through the medical supplies.
"I really don't need all these bandaids," said Jason as he eyed the Wonder Woman bandaids that were various sizes. "And I don't need two different disinfectants."
Dick nodded. "Okay, so what we can do is take one of the disinfectants, and the more colorful band aids." He looked around and found one of the less filled bags. "We can put them in here."
The black haired boy nodded.
"Okay so with that, what else?" Dick asked. He then watched Jason's one blue eye switch between the larger first aid kit and the smaller ones. He thinks it's officially a travel one for like, camping since it was more so a bag than a box compared to the other two. It was also waterproof so that was neat.
"Do I really need this big thing?" He asked, finally settling on the larger one.
"It does have a lot more stuff in it." Dick pointed out. "And you never know what you're going to need."
"But wouldn't I need the sports one more since I'm more likely to get bruises and sprains?" Jason furrowed his eyebrows.
"Yes, but you also might get cuts if it turns out there's like, a piece of glass lying around or something."
At this Jason pursed his lips. "Yeah no. I think I'll take the sports one."
Now, Dick really wanted to start haggling so Jason would have the most supplies for just in case, yet he didn't want to push. He really didn't want Jason to start drifting away already because of something like this.
(They had only just officially met, but Dick really wants to take care of him as much as Terry does. This, he is sure of.)
"Okay." He relented. "I don't think the huge one would fit in the bag so we would have to carry it anyway. You alright with that?"
The mess of black hair nodded.
Slowly but surely they were making progress. He could feel the small amount of joy from both himself and Terry. And when they were done sorting what Jason wanted to keep with what he wanted to give away, Jason would have more than enough to help his fellow children of Gotham.
They went to a different store from the Goodwill before. It was still Goodwill, just in a different location. Everyone had agreed that it would save any embarrassment if they were seen at the same store for two days in a row.
Of course Jason didn't know that Terry had agreed to this.
Even though the atmosphere was a little somber between them, Dick was having a genuinely fun time. He teased Jason, who would bite back in his own way. And then there were little sweet things that made the imp in him grin with glee.
"So you're Terry's twin right?" Jason asked in a way that was supposed to be nonchalant. It was obvious he was very curious. He was even fiddling with the shirt rack, pretending to be busy.
"Pretty sure we established that, yeah," Dick, or Rob as he had to remind himself, held back a snicker as he looked through the same shirt rack. "Why?"
Jason shrugged.
"Well…" Rob stretched the word out. "If you want embarrassing stories I just might have some."
'Wait what.' Terry suddenly inserted himself. 'No you don't.'
Rob grinned at that as he saw Jason perk up. 'You're right. I don't.'
He nearly started cackling at the feeling of dread seeping over. He was going to make one of the most ridiculous stories ever.
"Okay so, when we were like, five Terry decided that he could go to the bathroom all by himself without telling anyone. Unfortunately for him, the doorknob on the inside was completely gone so he had basically locked himself in the bathroom. So, imagine little me, minding my own business when I hear Terry start wailing about how he was going to die in there out of starvation. I had to get our parents to open the door. Mom and dad joked that there wouldn't be any accidents since he was already in the bathroom, and Terry, he didn't like that. So he pouted for like, a month, and had to have someone go with him to the bathroom for three months."
At the end of his false story, Rob was grinning like a maniac, Terry was full on embarrassed, and Jason was staring at him with his jaw dropped.
Then finally Jason spoke. "Holy fucking shit that's amazing."
Rob was full on laughing at that.
Eventually they had bought whatever Jason had wanted, while Terry just stewed in his embarrassment. When they went back to the cycle, Rob was a little afraid that the clothing was the last thing that the basket could handle. And that was saying something since it could handle all the supplies Rob had put in it.
"Do you want me to properly take care of your injuries?" Rob had asked, taking a glance at Jason. It was something that he sort of wanted to avoid, but the whole reason why Rob was there was to teach him how to properly take care of himself.
Jason… was hesitant. "I…"
"I can tell you what I'm doing so you have a better understanding the next time you do it yourself." He tried.
Jason looked at him. He looked back at Jason.
It was quiet. No one moved… and then…
With the tiniest of movements, Jason nodded.
'Come on Terry, let's go find some prime real estate.' Dick thought as he got onto his motorcycle. Jason was taken care of, and it was time to go.
'Are you sure? Wouldn't Bruce notice?'
Here Dick grinned. 'He won't if we're careful.'
With sarcasm, Terry said, 'and we're careful.'
'Hey, he hasn't discovered you yet.'
'Yet.' Terry stressed. 'The man is literally known as the "world's greatest detective".'
'Okay fair. But you gotta admit, he might think that I'm just going through whatever teenagers normally go through.'
'And what's that? Juvie?' Terry, once again with sarcasm, asked.
'No!'
'Face it Dick, between you, me, and Bruce, none of us probably had a proper "whatever teenagers go through". And you just started your teen years. I'm getting close to the end of mine.'
At this Dick really thought about it. According to Terry, he went to Juvie when he was a year older than Dick, and then started his career as Batman at sixteen posing as an older Bruce Wayne's Personal Assistant. Bruce had to deal with being a rich orphan and probably stated training to be Batman in his later teen years. While Dick started crime fighting earlier than they had to, deal with being an orphan from the circus who got taken in by Bruce. And now both Dick and Terry are sharing a body.
So yeah. Literally none of them probably know what a proper teenager is supposed to go through. Terry might have a better idea as he was from a middle class area, but he's also literally from the future in another universe.
One might argue that Bruce might've known, but at this point Dick has to speculate what exactly the man went through since Dick doesn't trust anything from the media around that time frame. Hell, he doesn't really trust the media currently all that much.
So. Yeah.
'Okay fair.' Dick, once again, said.
Driving around, they searched, physically, for a place that was for sale. Or wouldn't be paid too much attention if it was bought. Then they found… what was certainly a place that's for sure.
"This place looks decent enough." Dick seemingly muttered to himself. Just in case anyone heard. Which honestly was unlikely, but who knows.
'How is this place not condemned?'
'Because it's Gotham.' Dick replied.
'Right. How could I forget.' So much sarcasm.
'So,' Dick went back on track, 'we're going to definitely fix this place up. Think we should add a garden?'
'Why a garden? Wouldn't that be bad if Poison Ivy decided she wanted to come out and play?' He could feel Terry's concern about the whole thing.
'True. But Jason might like it if he could go and harvest his food rather than go and buy it.'
'Hmm. I can see that. I don't trust the soil here though.'
'Understandable, but I'm pretty sure some pots or something would take care of that.'
'Does Alfred take care of the garden?' Terry suddenly asked.
Dick blinked at that. 'Yeah. Why?'
'Maybe we could ask him for some help. If he asks we could say something about Poison Ivy and he might understand. Maybe.'
The younger teen mulled this over in his head. 'That could work. And if Bruce catches us doing research he'll buy it as well. Maybe we could try to appeal to some stuff or something and maybe that would keep Poison Ivy content for a little bit. Like I don't know. Plant flowers for the birds and the bees? Three birds with one stone?'
'Pretty sure it's "two birds one stone", but yeah. That just might work.'
Sweet. They had a plan. Now how to fix the mess that would be the new safe house.
'Maybe some cookbooks might help too.' Terry thought as Dick looked over what might've used to be the kitchen.
'Agreed.'
He then turned on a faucet to see if it still even worked. A deep groan came from the pipes. Dark, smelly liquid came out in a spray. Dick frowned.
'Let me guess. They haven't done anything to clean the pipes.'
The younger teen sighed. 'This definitely needs to be fixed.'
'Listen, not to seem rude to the city, but do we even want city water?' Terry asked.
Dick pursed his lips. No. They did not want city water. At least, not right now. Some heavy duty filters would be great in general though.
There was a lot more planning to do.
That night Robin flew next to Batman, and all was calm.
And this concludes episode 2 of the Young Justice timeline. Get ready for more days of filler and maybe episode 3 soon. Don't you just love it when you cut parts of a story up in order to fit things in it? Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter!