Chapter 4

So, I feel like this is too confusing, if you have any suggestions on how to shorten the confusing stuff, or make it less confusing, please let me know!

ABUSE WARNING. The separated portion of this chapter has Dick make mentions of things Jason can do to him that 'Daddy' did. You don't need to know them exactly, they are just forms of abuse that are very bad and not specifically necessary to the plotline.

Dick kept his gaze steady as he waited for his punishment. Daddy hated it when Dick complained, just like he should. Dick was worthless, a nobody. Daddy was the nicest person ever to put up with him at all, and if Dick; worthless, worthless, Dick, ever complained… it was unthinkable. Dick deserved everything Daddy gave him and more for complaining.

And letting other people know you were in pain was a form of complaining. Dick didn't know why the head hurting happened. He didn't think about it. Thinking about it made the hurting happen again.

So when Dick had just met his amazing older brother (he had an older brother!) for some reason, just because he wasn't paying enough attention, he had let himself cry outwhen the hurting started. This was also a stupid thing to do after just meeting his perfect brother! Now Jason would always hate him and never want to do anything with him, because he'd know what a stupid failure Dick was.

And Jason had already been so nice and touched Dick already, and held him, and said nice things. Dick would have to spend a long time punishing himself. But now Dick had gone and ruined everything, and Jason would only hit him now, and never do anything with him again.

It made sense. Dick didn't deserve anything else, and Jason certainently hated him already: anyone would and should. But Jason had pretended so well that Dick was worth something. And to Dick's shame, even though he knew Jason should hate him, and never spend time with someone as worthless as Dick, Dick still wanted Jason to be with him. It was awful. Dick would punish himself for that too, later.

Dick didn't look down. That would be complaining by saying he was scared, and that Daddy was doing something wrong. Another jolt of pain slammed through him, but this time he contained it. Still standing there, he waited for Jason to give him his first beating.

And waited.

"What happened, kid, you okay?"

"..." Well, that was wrong. That wasn't how things were supposed to work. Dick wondered what was going on. Well, maybe the… moving things from one place from another energy… (Jason said it was called teleportation?) had made Jason forget Dick's place. That was okay. Jason was so awesome that he obviously had better things to think about than anything involving Dick. Okay. Dick would just remind him.

"I think you forgot because of the teleport energy." Dick said, knowing Jason might remember everything, and hit him for even suggesting that Jason didn't always know everything. That would be okay. If Jason hit him, then everything was right again, and Dick deserved to be hit for misreading the situation.

"But you're supposed to hit me when I do wrong things. So I learn. Just like with Daddy!"

Jason's eyes widened, and Dick wondered if Jason had forgotten something important, that he'd just remembered now. Nothing Dick had said was that interesting. To make sure, Dick reviewed his words. Jason should hit him… hitting was for after wrong things… it helped Dick learn… Daddy did it. Nope, nothing interesting.

"Is something wrong, Jason?"

"Your… daddy. Bruce Wayne. He hits you? And not in training?"

"It trains me to act better."

"But not… have you ever heard of Batman?"

Dick was lost. He'd heard of both bats and men, of course, but Batman? What was that?

"No. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Do… you know any vigilantes?"

"I don't know what a vigilante is. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. So…" Jason's eyes searched his face, wide with worry. Dick had made his brother worried! That was very very bad. Dick was a horrible person. He had to make this better.

"It's okay, Jason. I promise it's alright, don't be sad. I'm very worthless anyway, did you know that? I'm not worth anything, I promise. Do you want to hit me? Hitting me makes Daddy feel better, I want you to feel better."

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Jason didn't look like he felt better. He looked like he felt worse. Why couldn't Dick say anything right? He scanned the room quickly, then pulled Jason over to a table with ornamental knives mounted on the wall. Taking one down he gave it to Jason and pulled back his sleeve. Scars shone pale in the artificial light.

"Go ahead, hurt me. You can stab me first, so you get a big thing done; then you can cut me up."

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Dick was good at reading people, from trying to know what Daddy wanted. Jason looked like he was going to be sick.

"I… no, kid. No. Just… no." Jason set down the knife like it was going to bite him, and moved toward Dick slowly. Dick was just making things worse and worse. "I'm not going to hurt you, Dick. I promise."

Dick stared at him in blank comprehension. Jason may as well have promised not to go to the store, or watch television. Why would Jason make a strange promise like that? And what did it mean? Dick got punished for doing bad things, that wasn't going to change. And Dick wasn't being hurt by anyone!

Daddy gave him owies, he guessed, but those were good owies, so Jason couldn't be talking about that. Maybe Jason hit his head, or got dizzy from the teleport energy. That must be it. The stuff he was saying just wasn't making any sense!

"Jason, I think you hit your head. It's okay, I know medicine and stuff. I can take care of you. We can do other stuff later, it's alright. I'll find our other selves and you can lie down, okay? It'll be okay."

"I'm fine, kiddo. Just peachy. And… yeah we need to find… the other uses. We need to do that now… just in case."

Jason replaced the knife on the wall, and Dick could tell he was keeping his hands from shaking. "And then… we're going to talk. About things. That'll be good, right? And then we'll do what you do for fun."

Jason still wasn't making sense. What Dick did that was fun was serve Daddy. What was really fun was when Daddy was very happy. So Jason saying that they'd do what Dick did for fun didn't make much sense. They'd just do what Jason did for fun, and if Jason liked it, Dick would be happy.

Dick was pretty sure Jason had hit his head, even if Jason didn't seem to think so. But Daddy had instructions for things like this. Jason didn't look like he was in danger from hitting his head, so Dick was supposed to assume Jason knew better than him, like normal. Well, the instructions were supposed to apply to Daddy, and when to disobey Daddy when Daddy was hurt and bleeding from the head or something. But Dick figured they could apply to Jason too.

"Yes, Jason."

Jason turned around and started through the other-manor, in search of a computer. Dick followed behind silently, just like he had for Daddy for as long as he could remember.