Jason wondered if Damian hadn't been possessed by the spirit of Dick Grayson when he suggested karaoke. Jason, personally, had not participated in that acursed art since before he was dead, except possibly that one time with Roy that everyone had wound up too drunk to remember.
It was the sort of thing Dick would do, try to trick Jason into a karaoke party by putting him in position where he couldn't refuse. At the same time, though, Jason would be dead and buried a second time before he let Dick experience his first karaoke party without him. Of course… Dick didn't actually know any songs. Unless he remembered something from the cartoons he'd been watching… that could do it.
This brought up the question of how to decorate for a karaoke party, and according to Dick the answer was glitter. And the answer to how much glitter was yes. All of it.
At some point, Jason Tim and Damian had started a competition to see who could deck out the room in so many decorations that one of the others would be too embarrassed to have their picture taken in there. When it became obvious that everyone was committed, it had transformed to see who could find the most ridiculous, over-the-top decoration to add to the room.
Jason had tracked down fluffy golden boas highlighted in golden glitter, which ought to put him above Damian's discovery of multi-colored string lights.
Jason strode confidently into the room, sneering at Damian as he showed off his acquisition. Damian wrinkled his nose back, and the two of them continued to aggressively decorate the room. Jason continued to be confident that he was going to be the winner right up until Tim walked into the room holding a disco ball, Dick trailing behind him.
"What?!" Damian cried. "Where did you find that?"
Tim smirked like the smug little brat that he was. "Older Dick's room. Obviously."
Jason scowled in defeat and decided to not press why Dick had a disco ball in his room and why Tim would think to look there.
"And guess what Dick found?" Tim piped up.
Dick offered up a cardboard box. "Mirrors!"
"We have screws," Tim offered. "We can stick them on the walls and they'll reflect the disco lights."
"Cool," Jason agreed, walking over to investigate the box. Dick grinned up at him, eyes dancing. "I think Dick wins the prize for coolest find."
Tim's head jerked up, scandalized that Jason had passed over his superior find for something Dick had accidentally found in a box, but that was the way the cookie crumbled. Jason was a petty man.
"Yes, absolutely, Richard wins," Damian chimed in.
"That's two votes, and since he can't vote for himself, the democratic process is clear!" Jason cheered. "Congratulations, Dick, how does it feel to be a winner?"
"...Yay!"
"That's right, buddy!" Jason hefted Dick onto his shoulders, taking the box into his own hands, and making a face at a seething Tim.
"My first song is going to be Cotton Eye Joe."
Jason shot Tim a stink eye. Sometimes, having Dick around was a huge kill joy. Timberlina wouldn't be so daring if Jason wasn't being held back by a portable 8 year old G rating on life.
"Do you have any songs you wanna sing, Dickie?" Jason asked, leaning backwards to make Dick laugh and clutch at his head as he struggled to remain on Jason's shoulders.
"I don't know any songs, Jason!"
"Sure you do! What about Let It Go?" Now it was Tim's turn to glare. They really ought to be more careful. Dick was getting more observant by the day, and he was eventually going to pick up on someone's passive aggression.
"Yeah!" Dick cheered enthusiastically.
"Wanna help me stick these on the walls?"
Dick nodded in Jason's peripheral vision, and used his elevated shoulder status to stick the mirrors as high up the wall as he could.
Tim found a ladder to hook the fluffy boas on the wall, and Damian shifted the furniture around the room to better accommodate the impending party.
"Can you sing together in a karaoke party?" Dick asked eagerly.
"If you wish," Damian responded.
"I want to sing a whole song together - all of us!"
As long as it wasn't Let it Go, Tim could live with that.
Soon the stage was set, and Damian had pulled up a list of songs Dick had been exposed to already.
"Alright, Richard, you may go first. Select a song, and we may begin."
Dick bounced over to the computer displaying the songs before pulling a face, dimming his vibrant energy for the first time since he'd returned from Red Robins. "I don't…" Dick glanced upwards, hesitant about something.
"It is alright, Richard, you can chose whatever you want."
That wasn't it. Jason tilted his head. Dick's problem wasn't that he didn't want to make a choice…
"Dick," Jason began hesitantly, "do you… can you read?"
The room went silent. Everyone simultaneously ran through their heads every time Dick had been exposed to the written word. He had been able to select movies he'd already seen… but he could recognize the pictures on the cases.
"Um. I can read some? I read recipes and lists of chores and stuff? But I don't know all these words."
Jason plastered on a smile and swept the conversation forward. No wallowing. "That's alright buddy, we can read 'em to you and teach you how to read later."
"I get to learn how to read? I can read books and stuff?"
"As many as you want! I'll read any book in the library with you! Now come on, these songs aren't going to sing themselves!"
Dick's selection went straight to Let It Go, Tim looked like he was going to commit first degree murder, and the karaoke party began.
Dick danced around the stage, hopping and leaping into the air as he screamed as many notes as he could remember, Jason, Tim and Damian clapping dutifully the entire time.
Dick hopped off the stage to much applause, and Jason picked him up to swing onto his shoulders. "Great job, Tweety Bird!"
"Thanks! Who's next? Who's next?"
"I will be next." Damian declared, hopping onto the stage.
"Ooh, Ooh! Do you do song requests?" Tim piped up. "I want you to do "I Just Can't Wait to be King!""
Damian leveled a stink eye at Tim but complied. Jason had to hand it to him - the kid could sing. It probably wasn't necessary to act like he was performing for Carnegie Hall, but that was the Demon Brat.
Damian stepped off the stage as if it was a throne, nose turned up. Dick, still from Jason's shoulders, offered Damian a high-five, which Damian accepted with as much dignity as possible.
Tim took the stage next, and did his best to do justice to Be Our Guest. Jason had never heard Tim attempt Disney before, and his only regret was that he probably couldn't take blackmail surreptitiously enough. Ah well, it probably would've been some sort of breach of trust anyway. Dick was excited, though, and that was the point.
Jason fidgeted. Not that a karaoke party was a competition, but he was going to win.
When Tim hopped off stage, Jason didn't even wait for Dick to finish congratulating him before leaping onstage with Dick in stow to perform his most energetic rendition of Gaston.
Aside from acting out every lyric as dramatically as possible, Jason made a point of twirling Dick around to the music, and tossing him around like a sack of potatoes. Dick probably couldn't hear very much of Jason's incredible singing through his laughter, but that was alright. Tim and Damian could appreciate the entire performance.
It was a difficult task, singing for both Gaston and Lefou, but Jason made it work. By the time he was done, Dick was ready for communal singing time, and the four of them sang "I Wanna be Like You" as it had never been performed before.
By the time Tim and Dick had performed "Do You Want to Build a Snowman", Damian had coached Dick through "Be Prepared", and Jason has coopted Dick through "Try Everything," Dick looked almost manic with exhaustion.
Trading glances with his brothers, Tim walked over to the computer and feigned technical difficulties while Jason held Dick on his lap in the dark room. Sure enough, Dick slowly slumped into unconsciousness without the music keeping him going.
"He's had a long day," Tim signed, smiling fondly.
"I still can't believe he got that excited over you," Damian rejoined. "I want him tomorrow."
"No can do, Baby Bat," Jason countered. "I'm going tomorrow, and you can have him after. It's your turn to have him for sleepy-bye time, though, so you can have fun with that."
Damian pulled a face and rolled his eyes, and stalked away to pull down the decorations. It had been a good night.